A UK offshore mussel farm is reviving shellfish habitats 英國海上貽貝養殖場幫助重建貝類棲息地

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A UK offshore mussel farm is reviving shellfish habitats

英國海上貽貝養殖場幫助重建貝類棲息地

文字稿

Beauty below the waves.

真是一片海浪下的美景。

This is what the UK’s first large-scale offshore mussel farm looks like. It’s in Lyme Bay off the South Devon Coast.

這段畫面展示的是英國首個大規模海上貽貝養殖場。這個養殖場位於南德文海岸附近的萊姆灣。

Ten years ago, before the farm was created, the seabed here had been completely wiped out by years of trawling and dredging.

十年前，在這個養殖場建立之前，這片海床的生態環境就已經被多年的拖網捕魚和采砂活動破壞殆盡。

Dr Emma Sheehan, Associate Professor, University of Plymouth
“We were really surprised to see how quickly we were seeing positive changes associated with the farm. Straightaway, we were seeing mussel clumps that had fallen from the ropes, and started to create these reefs that we are now seeing. Straightaway, we started seeing cuttlefish, maybe using them to lay eggs, and… you know, it was really really quick. But now, we’ve been doing this for ten years, and we’ve seen a third increase in fish, whether they’re in the water column around the ropes or on the seabed. We have seen 50% increases in the diversity of animals that live within the sediments – so they’re oxygenating the sediments. And so it’s just – everything we look at is just positive increases.”

愛瑪·希恩博士普利茅斯大學副教授
“我們很驚訝這麼快就能看到養殖場帶來的積極變化。沒用多久，我們就觀察到瞭有些貽貝叢從養殖繩上脫落，並且開始形成我們今天所看到的礁體。與此同時，我們還觀察到瞭烏賊的出現，也許它們是想利用這些礁石產卵。這些都發生得非常迅速。現在我們已經持續研究十年瞭，我們觀察到魚類數量增加瞭三分之一，這個現象不僅出現在養殖繩周圍的水體中，還出現在海床附近。我們還觀察到沉積物中動物種群的多樣性提高瞭 50%——這意味著養殖場令沉積物中的含氧量上升瞭。所以說，我們看到的所有數據都呈現出好的勢頭。”

New evidence has emerged to show the mussels here are restoring historic habitats.

新發現的證據顯示出這裡的貽貝正在讓曾經的棲息地得到恢復。

Dr Emma Sheehan, Associate Professor, University of Plymouth
“So we [suspected] that a lot of our coastline was covered in oysters and mussel reefs, but there’s no evidence. And then, this map that was an absolute missing piece of information for us, for studying the farm. So now we’ve got this evidence that shows, not only can we say “we think that we are having a positive effect here”, but we’re actually restoring lost habitats. This map was from 1871 from old French fisheries data. So, it’s just really exciting.”

愛瑪·希恩博士普利茅斯大學副教授
“我們猜測本地的海岸線上曾覆蓋著大量由牡蠣和貽貝形成的礁石，但苦於一直沒有證據。然後，我們發現瞭這張為我們研究養殖場填補瞭關鍵信息的地圖。現在我們手中的這份證據表明，我們不但可以說 ‘我們認為養殖場對這裡有積極的影響’，還可以說養殖場正在讓一度被破壞的生物棲息地得到恢復。這份地圖來自 1871 年的法國漁業資料。所以這次發現真是太令人激動瞭。”

The company behind this farm harvests around 3000 tonnes of mussels a year, most of them exported to Holland.

經營這個養殖場的公司每年都能收獲約三千噸貽貝，其中大多數都被出口到瞭荷蘭。

John Holmyard, Managing Director, Offshore Shellfish
“The production of mussels in Europe has actually decreased by about 100,000 tonnes in the last 20 years, mostly because of poor water quality and a lot of other issues. But lack of space is one of them. So, the fact that we can figure out a way of growing them offshore in exposed waters, opens up a tremendous opportunity. I think the key thing we’re showing is, that shellfish farming or aquaculture of the type that we do can co-exist with fishing and biodiversity, and it’s pretty much a win-win-win situation for all of us.”

約翰·霍姆亞德 Offshore Shellfish（海上貝類公司）總經理
“歐洲的貽貝產量已經在過去 20 年中下降瞭大約十萬噸，主要是由於水質不良以及許多其他問題。但養殖空間不足也是問題之一。所以，我們找到一種方法從而在海上的開放水域中養殖貽貝就是創造瞭一個巨大的機遇。我認為這個養殖場的重要之處在於，我們證明瞭貝類養殖，或者說這種水產養殖方式，能夠和漁業與生物多樣性的保護共存。這對各行各業來說可謂是 ‘三贏’ 的局面。”

The team here is now being contacted by people from across the world, keen to try to replicate this success story.

目前，該團隊收到瞭來自世界各地的聯絡，許多人都迫切地想要復制這個成功故事。