墨西哥城，10月15日 - 墨西哥总统周四表示，对濒临灭绝的加州海牛（即世界上最小的鼠海豚）保护区进行大幅缩减，将有助于渔业社区，尽管批评人士担心此举威胁到该物种的生存。
MEXICO CITY, Oct 15 - Mexico's president said on Thursday a drastic reduction in the protected area for the near-extinct vaquita marina, the world's smallest porpoise, will help fishing communities, although critics fear the move threatens the species' survival.
墨西哥政府本周将渔民禁止使用鳃网（即长长的尼龙网墙）的区域从原先的面积减少了86%，至1,562平方公里（603平方英里），面积大约相当于大伦敦。此前的协议曾保护的面积相当于美国康涅狄格州的大小。
Mexico's government this week reduced the area where fishermen cannot use gillnets – long walls of nylon mesh – by 86% to 1,562 square kilometers (603 square miles), about the size of Greater London. The prior agreement had protected an area similar to the size of the US state of Connecticut.
总统克劳迪娅·谢因鲍姆表示，新的范围旨在保护加利福尼亚湾的生物多样性，同时也让渔民能够获得更好的生计。当局表示，该措施考虑了国际海牛恢复委员会的建议，该委员会是政府的咨询机构。
President Claudia Sheinbaum said the new scope aimed to protect biodiversity in the Gulf of California while also allowing fishermen to make a better living. Authorities said the measure took into account proposals by the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, a government advisory body.
参与该委员会工作的墨西哥海洋生物学家、领先的海牛专家洛伦佐·罗哈斯-布拉乔表示，他希望更小的区域能够集中力量拯救这种哺乳动物。
Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, a Mexican marine biologist and leading vaquita expert who took part in the committee, said he hoped a smaller area could concentrate efforts to save the mammal.
“在一个非常大的区域实施禁令很困难，而该区域包括许多最近没有海牛记录的广阔地区，”罗哈斯-布拉乔对路透社表示。“如果你丢失了一枚戒指，你不会去搜查整栋房子，而是专注于你丢失它的地方。”科学家去年估计，目前仅剩7到10头海牛，其中至少包括一头幼崽。该物种的数量已从1997年的约600头骤降，主要原因是非法捕捞 totoaba 鱼，其鱼鳔在中国医药中备受珍视，在亚洲可售价高达1万美元。
"It is difficult to enforce a ban over a very large area, which includes vast areas with no recent records of vaquitas," Rojas-Bracho told Reuters. "If you lose a ring you don't search your entire house, you focus on where you lost it." Scientists estimated last year there were just 7 to 10 vaquitas left, including at least one calf. The population has collapsed from around 600 in 1997, largely due to illegal fishing targeting totoaba, whose swim bladders are highly prized in Chinese medicine and can fetch up to $10,000 in Asia.
罗哈斯-布拉乔表示，如果不再有海牛被杀害，剩下的少数鼠海豚就有望重新繁衍该物种。
Rojas-Bracho said that if no more vaquitas are killed, the remaining handful of porpoises would have a good chance of repopulating the species.
然而，墨西哥国立自治大学的生物学家、保护专家赫拉尔多·塞巴略斯则持较为悲观的态度。
Conservation expert Gerardo Ceballos, a biologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, was less optimistic.
“海牛的遭遇是一场注定的死亡，”他说。“我们缩小了海牛的保护区，却没有实际的技术或后勤能力在那里执行法规；我们屈服于利益集团的压力，以便开发更大的区域。”塞巴洛斯表示，墨西哥政府的极少量投资就能确保海牛的保护。然而，就目前的情况而言，他认为海豚正走向灭绝。
"What's happening to the vaquita is a death foretold," he said. "We've reduced the vaquita's protected area without actually having the technical or logistical capacity to enforce regulations there; we're giving in to pressure from interested groups so a larger area can be exploited." Ceballos said a very minimal investment from Mexico's government would ensure the vaquita's protection. As things currently stood, however, he believed the porpoise was on the path to extinction.
“如果海牛灭绝，它不会解决不安全或贫困或任何地方问题。墨西哥也将失去一个象征。”他说。“如果采取行动，就有可能性，有希望。我们必须继续抱有希望地工作。”
"If the vaquita goes extinct it won't solve insecurity or poverty or any of the local problems. And Mexico would lose an icon," he said. "If actions are taken, there is a possibility, a hope. And we must keep working with hope."