英国创建了大西洋比较大的海洋保护区之一

英国创建了大西洋最大的海洋保护区之一

The United Kingdom has declared roughly 170,000 square miles around Ascension Island a marine protected area. It's one of the largest such areas in the Atlantic Ocean, and a victory for some of the world's biggest blue marlin, bigeye tuna and green sea turtles.

英国宣布阿森松岛周围约17万平方英里为海洋保护区。这是大西洋中最大的海域之一，也是世界上一些最大的蓝枪鱼、大眼金枪鱼和绿海龟的胜利。

Ascension Island lies in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly halfway between the coasts of Brazil and Africa. (Photo: kwest/Shutterstock)

Earlier this month, the local Ascension government declared the scope of the marine protected area, or MPA, which forbids commercial fishing and extractive mining but allows subsistence fishing by local communities. This week, the U.K. government set aside the money needed to make that a reality.

本月早些时候，当地阿森松岛政府宣布了海洋保护区(MPA)的范围，该保护区禁止商业捕鱼和采挖采矿，但允许当地社区进行自给自足的捕鱼。本周，英国政府拨出了实现这一目标所需的资金。

It's a big step toward a global goal of protecting 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030.

这是朝着到2030年保护世界30%海洋的全球目标迈出的一大步。

Green turtles were liberally harvested until 1930, but new rules helped the species rebound, and by 2014, nesting on Ascension has increased by 500%. (Photo: Kris Mikael Krister [CC BY 3.0]/Wikimedia Commons)

Ascension, one of the most remote populated places in the world, is deceivingly small, but what can be seen above water is simply the tip of a 10,000-foot underwater volcano, an area rich with biodiversity. This underwater mid-Atlantic ridge is one of the longest mountain ranges in the world, according to National Geographic. The ecosystem is home to sea turtles, marlin and is an important breeding stop for migratory birds.

阿森松岛是世界上人口最稀少的地方之一，面积小得令人迷惑，但在水面上可以看到的只是一座一万英尺深的海底火山的顶端，这是一个生物多样性丰富的地区。据《国家地理》报道，这条大西洋中部的水下山脊是世界上最长的山脉之一。该生态系统是海龟、马林鱼的家园，也是候鸟的重要繁殖地。

"In Ascension, the U.K. has its own miniature Galápagos Islands," David Barnes, a marine ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey, told Mongabay. "Its few humans are overshadowed by thousands of land crabs, green turtles, seabirds and surrounding marine life." Barnes contributed to research underpinning the designation of the MPA.

“在阿森松岛，英国有自己的微型加拉帕戈斯群岛，”英国南极调查局的海洋生态学家大卫·巴恩斯告诉Mongabay。“成千上万的陆地蟹类、绿海龟、海鸟和周围的海洋生物给这里为数不多的人类蒙上了阴影。”巴恩斯为MPA的命名提供了研究支持。

One part of a bigger puzzle

这是一个更大谜团的一部分

In 2015, a grand plan was hatched to create one of the largest marine reserves in the world focusing on the waters surrounding U.K. overseas territories including Ascension and a string of islands in the Atlantic, the Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific, the British Antarctic Territory and the Overseas Territories of British Indian Ocean Territory. Aptly called the Blue Belt Programme, the goal is to protect 4 million square kilometers of marine environment around the globe.

2015年,一个宏伟计划是创建世界上最大的海洋保护区之一英国海外领土的关注周围的水域,包括提升和一串岛屿在大西洋,皮特凯恩岛在太平洋,英国南极领土和英属印度洋领地的海外领土。“蓝带计划”的目标是保护全球400万平方公里的海洋环境。

As part of the Blue Belt plan, the Pitcairn Islands were also given marine protections. (Photo: Claude Huot/Shutterstock)

One of the reasons such huge (and remote) reserves are becoming increasingly feasible is the fact that satellite technology and remote monitoring drastically cuts the cost of enforcement.

如此巨大(和偏远)的保护区变得越来越可行的原因之一是，卫星技术和远程监控大大降低了执行成本。

"Enforcing and monitoring these marine areas would be cost effective. The Foreign Office is at a crossroads in dealing with overseas territories. It needs to recognise that we must deal with overfishing. We now have the technological ability to do this without boats and it is much cheaper. As it is, these areas are being plundered and are not being monitored at all, even though they contain 94% of all the UK’s biodiversity," Charles Clover, chair of the Blue Foundation, told The Guardian when the idea was gaining steam.

他说:“加强和监察这些海域的运作，会有成本效益。外交部在处理海外领土问题上正处于十字路口。它需要认识到，我们必须应对过度捕捞。我们现在有技术能力在没有船的情况下做到这一点，而且价格便宜得多。事实上，这些地区正在被掠夺，根本没有受到监控，尽管它们拥有英国94%的生物多样性。”

The work is ongoing, but we think Sylvia Earle — one of the first voices calling for such protective action — would be mighty pleased.

这项工作正在进行中，但我们认为西尔维娅·厄尔——呼吁采取这种保护行动的第一个声音之一——会非常高兴。