 In theirheyday, the corals along the shores of the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat were a hot spot for divers drawn by one of the most spectacular and biologically diverse reefs in the world.
Today Eilat's corals are facing extinction and the colorful translucent fish are disappearing because of what environmentalists say is a lucrative fish-farm industry in the region's waters. "It was one of the most beautiful reefs in the world and believe me I've seen them all. It was a pearl and it's really very painful to see it dying," said Professor Yossi Loya, an internationally renowned coral ecologist. He and other experts say Eilat's reefs will soon bewiped outunless the government swiftly closes companies that breed some five million fish a year in cages and are operating without permits. "We are inthe 11th hour, the very last moment to save them," said Loya, who has studied Eilat's reefs for decades. The fish firms deny any direct link with the coral decline. The reefs had sustained damage for years as Eilat and the neighboring Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba grew from isolated desert outposts into tourist boom towns. Loya and other experts say the most severe damage began in 1993 after fish companies started mass production. At the time, the reefs should have regenerated as a sewage plant began to treat Eilat's waste. Instead, coraldegradationaccelerated and new coral growth dropped to near zero. "What happened between 1993 and 2000 is there was anexponential increasein the yield of fish cages from 300 tons per year to something like 2,000 tons per year," Loya said. These fish excrete nitrates that develop plankton, the enemy of corals as they make the sea water murky and block sunlight which is an essential ingredient for coral survival. "The key point is that the Gulf of Eilat is an oligotrophic sea, a sea that does not have nitrogen at all," Loya explained. "Coral reefs thrive in seas that are poor in nitrogen. If you increase nitrogen you are changing the environment and in such a sensitive environment like coral reefs it is mainly affecting the reproductive system of corals." | 以色列紅海旅游勝地埃拉特沿岸的珊瑚群在繁盛時期曾經是潛水愛好者們熱衷的地方，他們被這片世界上最壯觀、最千姿百態的珊瑚礁所吸引。 然而如今，埃拉特的珊瑚群正瀕臨滅絕，色彩繁多、晶瑩剔透的魚兒也正在消失，環境保護主義者認為這是由于該海域有利可圖的養魚業造成的。 世界著名的珊瑚生態學家猶西·洛亞教授說：“埃拉特的珊瑚礁是世界上最美麗的珊瑚礁之一，相信我，我全看過了。它曾像珍珠一樣美麗，眼看著它日漸消亡真是件非常痛苦的事。” 他和其他專家都認為，如果政府不能盡快關閉那些每年撒網飼養約五百萬條魚的無證經營的公司，埃拉特的珊瑚礁將很快消失。 洛亞說：“我們現在處于最關鍵的時候，是挽救它們的最后一刻。”他數十年來一直在研究埃拉特的珊瑚礁。 那些漁業公司卻認為珊瑚礁的衰落與他們無關。 隨著埃拉特和鄰近的約旦紅海旅游勝地亞喀巴灣由荒涼的沙漠村落成長為新興的旅游城市，那里的珊瑚礁數年來一直受到破壞。 洛亞和其他專家認為，最嚴重的破壞始于1993年，漁業公司開始大規模生產之后。 那時，珊瑚礁本來應該可以再生，因為當時一個污水處理廠開始處理埃拉特的垃圾了。而情況卻恰恰相反，珊瑚礁加速衰退，新生珊瑚的生長速度幾乎降為零。 洛亞說：“1993年至2000年期間，撒網養魚的產量呈指數倍增長，由每年三百噸增加到每年大約兩千噸。” 這些魚兒排泄出的硝酸鉀能夠促進浮游生物的生長，而浮游生物是珊瑚的天敵，因為它們會使海水變得昏暗，并阻擋珊瑚賴以生存的基本因素——陽光。 洛亞解釋道：“關鍵是埃拉特海灣是一片營養貧乏、完全不含氮的海域。” “珊瑚礁在缺少氮的海水里才能茁壯成長。如果氮的含量增加，珊瑚生長的環境就改變了。在珊瑚礁這樣敏感的環境中，珊瑚的再生系統會受到很大的影響。” heyday:全盛期
wipe out:消失
the 11th hour:最后的關鍵時刻
degradation:退化，衰退
exponential increase:指數倍增長 （中國日報網站譯）
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Updated: 2004-07-09 01:00
