How do you save a shark you know nothing about? | Simon Berrow

翻译人员: yan wang 校对人员: SHICHAO CHEN

Basking sharks are awesome creatures.

姥鲨是一种了不起的生物，它们真是太令人叹为观止了

They are just magnificent.

它们身长10米

They grow 10 meters long; some say bigger.

有些人认为更大些

They might weigh up to two tons.

它们可能重达2吨

Some say up to five tons.

有些人说要重达5吨

They're the second-largest fish in the world.

姥鲨是世界上第二大鱼类

They're also harmless plankton-feeding animals.

它们是没有危害并依靠浮游生物为食的动物

And they are thought to be able to filter a cubic kilometer of water every hour

而且它们被认为是可以

每小时吸入一千立方米的海水

and can feed on 30 kilos of zoo plankton a day to survive.

以及每天靠滤食30公斤浮游生物生存

它们太了不起了。

They're fantastic creatures.

而对于爱尔兰人来说我们更是幸运的，因为我们有足够的姥鲨

We're very lucky in Ireland,

we have plenty of basking sharks and plenty of opportunities to study them.

并且有很多机会来研究它们

它们对海岸生态环境的发展也至关重要

They were very important to coastal communities,

让我们追溯到几百年前

going back hundreds of years,

尤其是在克拉达（大西洋中部）地区，达夫地区以及爱尔兰康尼马拉地区

especially around the Claddaghduff, Connemara region

这些都是自给自足的农民们常常出海的地方

where subsistence farmers used to sail out on their hookers and open boats,

他们驶着渔船

sometimes way offshore to a place called the Sunfish Bank,

有时离岸，有时去到一个被称为“太阳鱼岸”的地方

这个地方位于阿基尔岛西部30英里

about 30 miles west of Achill Island,

去捕杀姥鲨

to kill the basking sharks.

This is a woodcut from about the 1800s.

这是一个18,19世纪的木刻

所以姥鲨很重要。因为它们的肝脏能提炼出鱼肝油。

They were very important, for the oil out of their liver.

A third of the basking shark's size is their liver,

肝脏占了姥鲨三分之一体积而且里面满满的都是鱼肝油

你可以从它们的肝脏中得到几加仑的鱼肝油

and it's full of oil, gallons of oil.

这些油可以被用来照明

That oil was used especially for lighting,

也可以用来治愈伤口和其他用途

but also for dressing wounds and other things.

事实上，1742年在高威，都柏林和沃特福德这些地方

In fact, the streetlights in 1742,

的路灯

of Galway, Dublin and Waterford,

were lit with sunfish oil.

都多多少少与太阳鱼油有关。

"Sunfish" is one of the words for basking sharks.

而“太阳鱼”是姥鲨众多别名中的一个

So they were incredibly important animals.

所以它们是非常重要的动物

They've been around a long time, very important to coastal communities.

它们长期以来对海岸生态环境起着至关重要的作用

也许世界上关于姥鲨最著名的记载

Probably the best-documented basking shark fishery in the world

莫过于来自阿基尔岛的

is that from Achill Island.

This is Keem Bay up in Achill Island.

这条是阿基尔岛的Keem湾

姥鲨们过去常常来到这条海湾

Sharks used to come into the bay,

and the fishermen would tie a net off the headland,

渔夫们常常把渔网挂在岬上

string it out, an old Manila net,

平铺开与其它网连结在一起

and as the shark came round, it would hit the net,

当姥鲨游过来，它会碰到渔网，渔网撒落下来网到姥鲨

the net would collapse on it.

它们会被溺死或者窒息而死

It would often drown and suffocate.

Or at times, they would row out in their small curraghs

渔民用小船将它们拖得精疲力竭

and kill it with a lance through the back of the neck.

然后用鱼叉插入它们的头颈背部使其死亡

然后把它们拖到Purteen港口

And then they'd tow the sharks back to Purteen Harbour,

boil them up, use the oil.

煮沸并且提炼鱼油

They also used the flesh as well, for fertilizer

渔夫们曾经也常常把剩下的鱼肉作为肥料

有时也切除鱼鳍

and also would fin the sharks.

This is probably the biggest threat to sharks worldwide --

这恐怕就是对全世界鲨鱼的最大威胁

切除鱼的鳍

the finning of sharks.

我们常常因为《大白鲨》这部电影而敬畏鲨鱼

We're often frightened of sharks, thanks to "Jaws."

每年可能有5或者6名人类

Maybe five or six people get killed by sharks every year.

被鲨鱼夺命

就在最近不是就有这样的事情吗？就是在几周前

There was someone recently, wasn't there? Just a couple weeks ago.

但是我们人类每年捕杀1亿只鲨鱼

We kill about 100 million sharks a year.

So I don't know what the balance is,

所以我不知道这里的平衡点在哪里

but I think sharks have more right to be fearful of us than we have of them.

但是我认为鲨鱼更有理由害怕我们，而不是我们害怕它们。

这曾是一个存档完好的渔业

It was a well-documented fishery.

As you can see here, it peaked in the '50s,

从这个柱形图你可以很清楚的看到，在50年代捕渔业达到了其鼎盛时期

这个时候人们每年捕杀1500条鲨鱼

where they were killing 1,500 sharks a year.

然后急剧下降，一个典型的繁荣和萧条循环的渔业

And it declined very fast -- a classic boom-and-bust fishery,

这意味着剩下的鲨鱼已经所剩无几了

which suggests that a stock has been depleted

or there's low reproductive rates.

或者它们的繁殖率极低

They killed about 12,000 sharks within this period,

在这段时期人类捕杀了12000条鲨鱼

表面上就像用马尼拉绳在阿基尔岛Keem海湾连结起来

literally just by stringing a Manila rope

直到Keem海湾末端

off the tip of Keem Bay up in Achill Island.

在阿基尔岛屿

Sharks were still killed up into the mid-80s,

鲨鱼捕杀一直持续到80年代中期

especially out of places like Dunmore East in County Waterford.

尤其是在沃特福德郡东邓莫尔地区

About two and a half, 3,000 sharks were killed up till '85,

到85年大约有2500或者3000条鲨鱼被捕杀

mainly by Norwegian vessels.

其中很多被挪威的船只捕杀

You can't really see,

这艘黑色的，你们可能看不清，但是这些都是挪威人用来捕杀姥鲨的船只

but these are Norwegian basking shark hunting vessels.

望台上的黑线

The black line in the crow's nest signifies this is a shark vessel,

表明这是一只猎杀鲨鱼的船只

rather than a whaling vessel.

而不是捕鲸的船只

The importance of basking sharks to the coast communities

姥鲨对于海岸生态环境的重要性

is recognized through the language.

体现在语言上。

I don't pretend to [know many Irish words],

现在我不必假装会任何爱尔兰语

but in Kerry they were often known as "ainmhide Na seolta,"

但是在凯里郡，它们经常被称为 "Ainmhide na seolta"（爱尔兰语）

带帆的怪兽

"the monster with the sails."

另一个别称是"Liop an da lapa,"（爱尔兰语）

Another title would be "liop an dá lapa,"

有两鳍的笨拙野兽

"the unwieldy beast with two fins."

“Liabhan mor”（爱尔兰语）意思为大动物

"Liabhán mór," suggesting a big animal.

或者我最喜爱的表达："Liabhan chor greine"(爱尔兰语）

Or my favorite, "liabhán chor gréine," "the great fish of the sun."

意为伟大的太阳鱼

That's a lovely, evocative name.

这是一个多么惹人喜爱又让人浮想联翩的名字

On Tory Island -- a strange place anyway -- they were known as "muldoons."

在托里岛，这个奇怪的地方。它们被认为是马尔登皇室家族

(Laughter)

似乎没有人知道原因

No one seems to know why.

但愿今天这里没有人来自托里岛，很美丽的地方

Hope there's no one from Tory here. Lovely place.

但是这个岛上更为普遍的是

But more commonly all around the island, they were known as the sunfish.

著名的太阳鲨

And this represents their habit of basking on the surface

这个名字的来由是因为它们习惯在太阳出来时把身体露出来晒太阳

when the sun is out.

最令人担忧的是姥鲨数量正在减少

There's great concern that basking sharks are depleted

all throughout the world.

而且是全世界范围内的骤减

Some say it's not population decline,

一些人认为这不是姥鲨数量的减少

it might be a change in the distribution of plankton.

而是因为浮游生物分布产生了变化

It's been suggested

而姥鲨资源的减少

that these sharks would make fantastic indicators of climate change,

是反应气候变化的指标

因为事实上它们是浮游生物的“记录仪”

as they're basically continuous plankton recorders,

总是张着大嘴在海中遨游

swimming around with their mouth open.

姥鲨现被世界自然保护联盟列为濒危物种

They're now listed as vulnerable under the IUCN.

欧洲也正在采取一些措施尝试停止捕捉它们

There's movements in Europe to try and stop catching them.

现在已有了禁止捕捉姥鲨的条例甚至不准让它们上岸

There's now a ban on catching and even landing them,

even landing ones caught accidentally.

包括禁止那些不经意被捉到的鲨鱼上岸

They're not protected in Ireland;

姥鲨在爱尔兰并不受保护

in fact, they have no legislative status in Ireland whatsoever,

事实上，在爱尔兰并没有受到任何法律保护

尽管我们知道姥鲨在其物种资源上的重要意义

despite our importance for the species

以及它们赖以生存的历史环境意义

and also the historical context within which basking sharks reside.

We know very little about them.

我们还是对它们了解甚少

And most of what we do know

我们所了解最多的

is based on their habit of coming to the surface --

莫过于它们喜欢浮出海面晒太阳这个习惯

我们也尝试从它们这种浮出水面的习惯中猜测

we try and guess what they're doing from their behavior on the surface.

它们在干什么

I only found out last year, at a conference on the Isle of Man,

我只在去年的马恩岛一次会议中才找到答案

just how unusual it is to live somewhere

生活在马恩岛，这是件那么不同寻常的经历

where basking sharks regularly, frequently and predictably

姥鲨有规律地，经常性，可预见地出现在那里

浮出水面晒太阳

come to the surface to "bask."

这次会议是一次绝好机会

It's a fantastic opportunity for a scientist

去观察和了解姥鲨

to see and experience basking sharks.

它们实在是太牛了

They are awesome creatures.

这次难得的机会让我们可以研究它们，进一步接近它们

It gives us a fantastic opportunity to study them, to get access to them.

因此这也是我们这几年一直专注的事业。但是去年却非比寻常

What we've been doing for a couple years -- last year was a big year --

因为我们开始给它们编号做标记

is we started tagging sharks,

这样我们就可以进一步获得信息

so we could try to get some idea of sight fidelity and movement

例如它们视力精确性和游动范围等信息

and things like that.

因此我们主要关注

So we concentrated mainly in North Donegal and West Kerry

北多尼戈尔和西凯瑞地区

as the two areas where I was mainly active.

作为我们主要研究范围

And we tagged them very simply, not very high-tech,

我们做标记时不用高科技，只是用最简单的方法

用一个又大又长的杆子

with a big, long pole.

这是一个海滩铸造钓鱼棒

This is a beachcaster rod with a tag on the end.

末尾有一个标签

You go up in your boat and tag the shark.

架在船上然后扎入鲨鱼体内

And we were very effective.

我们当时效率很高

We tagged 105 sharks last summer.

就去年夏天共标记了105条姥鲨

我们在三天内就标记了50条

We got 50 in three days off Inishowen Peninsula.

在伊尼斯半岛附近

Half the challenge to get access

一半挑战来自于如何接近它们，如何在正确的地方合适的时间接触它们

is to be in the right place at the right time.

但是这是一个非常简单和容易的技术

But it's a very simple, easy technique; I'll show you what it looks like.

我来展示给大家看

我们用一个带有照相机的杆子放在船上

We use a pole camera on the boat to actually film the shark.

拍摄姥鲨

One, it's to try and work out the gender of the shark.

一个人试图辨认出姥鲨的性别

We also deployed some satellite tags, so we did use high-tech stuff as well.

我们也采用一些卫星标签，所以事实上我们还是会用一些高科技的方法

这些是档案标签

These are archival tags.

What they do is store the data.

他们的作用是储存数据

A satellite tag only works when the air is clear of the water

卫星标签只在清澈的水中才起作用

才可以发射信号给卫星

and can send a signal to the satellite.

诚然，各种鲨鱼和各种鱼类大多数时间都在水下活动

And sharks and fish are underwater most of the time,

所以这些标签事实上可以确认鲨鱼活动的地方

so this tag actually works out the locations of shark,

depending on the timing and the setting of the sun,

而这又取决于不同时间以及太阳日落时间

并且还受到水温和水深的影响

plus water temperature and depth.

而且有时不得不重建一些途径

And you have to kind of reconstruct the path.

What happens is,

经过一段固定时间后，你往往还要把标签从姥鲨身上分离下来

you set the tag to detach from the shark after a fixed period --

这一般是在8个月后

in this case, eight months --

到那天标签被取下，漂浮起来，然后向卫星发送数据

and literally to the day, the tag popped off,

drifted up, said hello to the satellite

并不是发送所有数据，但对我们来说已经足够了

and sent, not all the data, but enough data for us to use.

而且这个是唯一可以真正研究姥鲨

This is the only way to really work out their behavior and movements

在水下的行为和活动情况的方法

when they're underwater.

这个是几张我们绘制的地图

And here's a couple of maps that we've done.

In that one, you can see that we tagged both off Kerry.

这张，你们可以看出我们是在凯瑞做标记的

Basically, it spent all its time, the last eight months, in Irish waters.

事实上，最后的8个月我们都在爱尔兰水域做研究

圣诞节那天是在大陆架外缘

On Christmas, it was out on the shelf edge.

这里还有一个我们还没有证实

Here's one we haven't ground-truthed yet

由于不同的海水表面温度和水深

with sea-surface temperature and water depth,

但是姥鲨大多数时间

but again, the second shark spent most of its time

都生活在爱尔兰海域附近

in and around the Irish Sea.

去年有一些来自马恩岛的同事

Colleagues from the Isle of Man last year actually tagged one shark

标记了一条姥鲨

that went from the Isle of Man to Nova Scotia in about 90 days.

在90天内从马恩岛一路游到加拿大新斯科舍省

Nine and a half thousand kilometers -- we never thought that happened.

9500公里啊。这根本就在我们的预料之外。

在这个州的另外一个同事

Another colleague in the States tagged about 20 sharks off Massachusetts.

他在美国马萨诸塞附近海域标记了大约20条姥鲨，但是他的标记没有真正起作用。

His tags didn't really work.

他只知道在哪里给它们做了标记

All he knows is where he tagged them,

哪里这些标记遗落了

and where they popped off.

His tags popped off in the Caribbean,

他的这些标记有的在加勒比海附近遗落

甚至遗落在巴西

and even in Brazil.

We thought basking sharks were temperate animals

我们认为姥鲨是温带动物

and lived in our latitudes,

只能生活在我们的纬度

but in actual fact, they're obviously crossing the equator as well.

但是事实上，它们显然也穿越赤道进入南半球。

So very simple things like that,

所以像这些简单的事实

we're trying to learn about basking sharks.

都是我们要学习研究姥鲨的地方

有一件事我一直认为

One thing that I think is a very surprising and strange thing

非常有趣和奇怪

is just how low the genetic diversity of sharks is.

那就是姥鲨是基因多样性很低

I'm not a geneticist, so I won't pretend to understand the genetics.

我当然不是基因遗传学专家，所以我也不必装作了解基因遗传学

这也是为什么我们要合作的重要性

And that's why it's great to have collaboration.

Whereas I'm a field person,

我只是一个野外实生物学家

I get panic attacks

我会感到非常痛苦如果让我花几个小时

if I have to spend too many hours in a lab with a white coat on.

呆在实验室，穿着白大褂研究基因，还是让我走吧

Take me away.

所以我们要与研究基因遗传学的专家们合作

So we can work with geneticists who understand that.

So when they looked at the genetics of basking sharks,

当他们看到姥鲨的遗传信息时

他们也发现了它们的多样性是如此之低

they found that the diversity was incredibly low.

如果你仔细看第一行

If you look at the first line, really,

你可以看到所有这些姥鲨种类都非常相似

you can see that all these different shark species are all quite similar.

我想这只能说明它们都是鲨鱼类

I think this means they're all sharks

它们都来自于同一个祖先

and they've come from a common ancestry.

如果你再仔细观察核苷酸多样性

But if you look at nucleotide diversity,

which is more genetics that are passed on through the parents,

有很多是从父母辈遗传下来的信息

you see that basking sharks, if you look at the first study,

如果你再仔细观察第一次的研究

was order of magnitude less diverse even than other shark species.

姥鲨的数量级

其他鲨鱼种类更缺乏多样性

You can see this work was only done in 2006.

而这项发现工作是在2006年完成的

Before 2006, we had no idea of the genetic variability of basking sharks.

在2006年之前，我们对姥鲨基因遗传的变化性没有任何概念

我们不知道它们是不是因为不同群类而有所不同

We had no idea: Did they distinguish into different populations?

它们是亚群嘛？

Were there subpopulations?

And that's very important if you want to know

当然, 那是很重要的假如你想了解鲸鱼

种类的数量和物种的现有状况

what the population size is, and the status of the animals.

So, Les Noble in Aberdeen kind of found this a bit unbelievable, really.

阿伯丁大学的莱斯诺贝尔

发现了一些令人难以置信的信息

So he did another study using microsatellites,

所以他做了另外一个研究

运用微型卫星

一种非常昂贵又费时的设备

which is much more expensive, much more time-consuming,

and to his surprise, came up with almost identical results.

令他惊讶的是也测出了几乎相同的结果

So it does seem to be that basking sharks, for some reason,

所以似乎可以说

姥鲨，由于某些原因确实遗传基因缺乏多样性

have incredibly low diversity.

And it's thought maybe it was a genetic bottleneck,

而且这个问题被认为是一个瓶颈，一个基金遗传学领域的瓶颈

且早在12000年前就存在了

thought to have been 12,000 years ago,

而这也是导致他们物种缺乏多样性的原因

and this has caused a very low diversity.

And yet, if you look at the whale shark,

如果你们看一看这些鲸鲨

which is the other plankton-eating large shark,

另一种靠滤食浮游生物为主的大鲨鱼

its diversity is much greater.

它们的多样性却很复杂

So it doesn't really make sense at all.

所以这个很令人迷惑不解

They found that there was no genetic differentiation

科学家们发现全世界范围内的姥鲨

它们的基因差异都不大

between any of the world's oceans of basking sharks:

even though they're found throughout the world,

即使全世界发现的各种姥鲨

you couldn't tell the difference, genetically,

就基因信息上你不能说他们有太大区别

from one from the Pacific, Atlantic, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa.

虽然它们可能有的来自太平洋，大西洋， 新西兰或者爱尔兰，南非

它们本质上都是一样的

They all basically seem the same.

但就这点来说也是另人惊讶的。是你意想不到的

Which, again, is kind of surprising; you wouldn't expect that.

I don't understand or pretend to understand this;

我不理解这点。我也不不懂装懂。

而且我估计很多基因遗传学家也并不理解这点

I suspect most geneticists don't either,

但是姥鲨还是会孕育后代

but they produce the numbers.

So you can actually estimate the population size

所以你可以估算出实际的数量

根据基因遗传多样性

based on the diversity of the genetics.

Rus Hoelzel得出一个有效的姥鲨数量

And Rus Hoelzel came up with an effective population size:

8200条

8,200 animals.

就这么多。

That's it -- 8,000 animals in the world.

全世界只有8200条

You're thinking, "That's ridiculous. No way."

你一定在纳闷。这太荒谬了，不可能。

So Les did a finer study,

所以Les又做了一个更仔细的研究

and he found out it came out about 9,000.

这次他发现的数量是大约9000条

用不同的微型卫星会得出不同的结果

Using different microsatellites gave the different results,

但是所有这些研究的数量的平均数字

but the mean of all these studies is about 5,000,

大约是5000条

我个人其实并不相信

which I personally don't believe.

But then, I am a skeptic.

我是一个怀疑主义者

But even if you toss a few numbers around,

不过即使你觉得数字应该再多些

you're probably talking an effective population of about 20,000 animals.

你很可能认为比较有效的数量大约在两万条左右

还记得在阿基里附近被杀掉多少？

Do you remember how many they killed off Achill in the 70s and the 50s?

在70年代和50年代

So what it tells us, actually,

所以事实上告诉我们的是

is that there's actually a risk of extinction of this species

就这个物种而言姥鲨已经濒临灭绝

because its population is so small.

因为其数量太少

In fact, of those 20,000,

事实上，在这2万多条中，8000条是雌的

8,000 were thought to be females.

全世界只有8000条雌姥鲨？

There's only 8,000 basking shark females in the world?

我不知道，我也不相信

I don't know. I don't believe it.

问题在于

The problem with this is they were constrained with samples.

专家们的研究会受到样本的限制

他们无法得到足够多的样本

They didn't get enough samples

to really explore the genetics in enough detail.

去进一步真正研究姥鲨的基因

真正仔细彻底地研究

So, where do you get samples from for your genetic analysis?

所以到底从哪里能得到可靠的样本呢

用来做基因研究分析

Well, one obvious source is dead sharks --

当然最常见的来源是死姥鲨

死姥鲨被冲上岸

dead sharks, washed up.

每年在爱尔兰，我们可能会发现2到3条死姥鲨被冲上岸

We might get two or three dead sharks washed up in Ireland a year,

那说明我们足够幸运

if we're kind of lucky.

Another source would be fisheries' bycatch.

另一来源是渔民们误杀

我们在海洋漂网中捕获过几只

We were getting quite a few caught in surface drift nets.

现在这已被禁止，这对于姥鲨们来说是个好消息

That's banned now, and that'll be good news for the sharks.

还有一些被各类渔网，拖网捕捉到

And some are caught in nets, in trawls.

This is a shark that was actually landed in Howth just before Christmas --

这是一条圣诞前夕在爱尔兰霍斯附近抓到的姥鲨

这是非法的，但是因为欧盟法体律系下，你是不能这么做的。

illegally, because you're not allowed to do that under EU law --

而且事实上还作为鲨鱼排骨以一公斤8欧元出售

and was actually sold for eight euros a kilo as shark steak.

他们甚至把烹饪秘方贴在墙上，直到被告知这是违法的。

They even put a recipe up on the wall,

until they were told it was illegal.

而且还为此被罚款了

They actually did get a fine for that.

所以如果你看看这些我展示给你们的研究

So if you look at all those studies I showed you,

这些全球范围的样本数量

the total number of samples worldwide

目前是86条

is 86, at present.

所以这是一项非常艰巨的任务

So it's very important work,

因为这些样本可以看成是一些很好的问题

and they can ask some really good questions,

它们也能告诉你这个物种的数量

and tell us about population size and subpopulations and structure,

以及分组数量和结构

but they're constrained by lack of samples.

但是也因为样本的缺乏从而导致研究受限

现在当我们出海给它们做标记的时候

When we were out tagging our sharks --

this is how we tagged them on the front of a RIB, get in there fast --

这个是我们如何在它们的肋骨上做标记。动作一定要迅速

偶尔姥鲨也会反抗

occasionally, the sharks do react.

有一次，当我们在多尼哥地区的马林角地区

On one occasion, when we were up in Malin Head in Donegal,

一条姥鲨用它的尾巴拍打我们船的一侧

the shark smacked the side of the boat with his tail,

more, I think, in startle to the fact that a boat came near it,

我觉得更多的是因为有船只靠近而惊恐

rather than the tag going in.

并不是因为我们给它们做标记

不过还好。我们只是被打湿了。并没有其他大碍

And that was fine. We got wet. No problem.

然后当我和埃米特

And then when myself and Emmett got back to Malin Head, to the pier,

回到马林角码头

我发现在船的前方有些黑色的黏液

I noticed some black slime on the front of the boat.

I used to spend a lot of time on commercial fishing boats,

我曾经很长一段时间生活在那些商业渔船上

我记得渔民们告诉我他们总是有办法知道

and I remember fishermen saying

they can tell when a basking shark has been caught in a net,

姥鲨是否被渔网捕到

因为它们总是留下类似的黑色黏液

because it leaves a black slime behind.

所以我当时就想这一定是来自姥鲨的

So that must have come from the shark.

现在我们对此很有兴趣

Now, we had an interest in getting tissue samples for genetics

为研究基因而对拿到这些组织样品

because we knew they were very valuable.

因为我们知道这些组织样本很珍贵非常有价值

We would use conventional methods;

而且我们也用常规分析法

I have a crossbow -- you see it in my hand there,

我有一个石弓，拿在手里

which we use to sample whales and dolphins for genetic studies as well.

我用这个也采样鲸鱼和海豚作基因遗传研究

所以我试过这个，我试过很多技巧方法

So I tried that, I tried many techniques.

常常发生的是我的箭被折断

All it was doing was breaking my arrows,

因为姥鲨的皮肤很坚硬

because the shark's skin is just so strong.

我们几乎不可能从那里得到样本。

There was no way we were going to get a sample from that.

所以那个是行不通的。

That wasn't going to work.

So when I saw the black slime on the bow of the boat,

因此当我看到船头有这个黑色黏液

I thought, "If you take what you're given in this world ..."

我就这样想的：你拿走的是这个世界给予你的

So I scraped it off.

所以我把它刮下来

I had a little tube with alcohol in it to send to the geneticists.

然后装进一个带有酒精的小试管送去给基因遗传学专家

所以我把黑色黏液刮下来送到了阿伯丁

So I scraped the slime off and sent it to Aberdeen,

然后我说，你们可以试一试

and said, "You might try that."

然后事实上他们研究了几个月

And they sat on it for months.

因为在马恩岛会议上见过

It was only because we had a conference on the Isle of Man.

但是我一直发邮件

But I kept emailing Les, saying,

问：你们有没有看过我的那些黑色黏液样本？

"Have you had a chance to look at my slime?"

他总是回答：有的有的。但是要过一阵

And he was like, "Yeah, yeah. Later."

无论如何，他知道他最好去研究下

He thought he'd better do it because I never met him before;

因为我以前从来没有和他见过

he might lose face if he hadn't done the thing I sent him.

而且如果他没有完成我交给他的任务，他可能会觉得没有面子

而且令他惊讶的是他们事实上从黏液中得到了DNA

And he was amazed that they actually got DNA from the slime.

他们放大仔细研究测试

They amplified it and they tested it,

最后发现，这个确实是姥鲨的DNA

and they found, yes, this was actually basking shark DNA,

从黏液中而得

which was got from the slime.

他非常兴奋

So he was very excited.

被称为西蒙的姥鲨黏液

It became known as "Simon's shark slime."

我说，你知道的，我们可以以此出发来研究它

And I thought, "Hey, you know, I can build on this."

所以我们立刻说干就干，出海

So we thought, OK, we're going to try to get out and get some slime.

想办法拿到更多的黏液样本

在标记了3500个卫星标记后

So having spent three-and-a-half thousand on satellite tags ...

我甚至想要投资7.95欧（这个价格还在上面）

I then thought I'd invest 7.95 -- the price is still on it --

在基尔拉什的硬件设备上

in my local hardware store in Kilrush

for a mop handle,

一个拖把柄

and even less money on some oven cleaners.

甚至花更少的钱买一些烤箱清洁刷

And I wrapped the oven cleaner around the edge of the mop handle

我把烤箱清洁刷绑在拖把柄的一头

非常急切地

and ...

(Laughter)

迫不及待地

I was desperate to have an opportunity to get some sharks.

要去接近姥鲨

And this was into August now, and normally sharks peak in June, July,

那个时候已到八月

通常姥鲨出现的高峰是在六月和七月

而且你几乎看不到它们

and you rarely see them, or rarely can be in the right place

在8月你几乎不太可能在它们常出现的地方找到姥鲨

to find sharks into August.

We were desperate, so we rushed out to the Blaskets

当时我们很绝望

所以当我们一听到在布拉斯基特群岛有姥鲨时我们立刻冲到那里去

as soon as we heard there were sharks there,

and managed to find some sharks.

的确费了一番周折找到了一些姥鲨

So by just rubbing the mop handle down the shark

通过这把自制的拖把柄摩擦姥鲨

在它们游到船下的时候

as it swam under the boat --

you see a shark running under the boat here --

你们看，这个就是姥鲨在这里游到了船下

我们成功获取了一些黏液

we managed to collect slime.

And here it is.

在这里

Look at that lovely black shark slime.

看看这个如此可爱的黑色鲨鱼黏液

And in about half an hour, we got five samples.

大约在半个小时内

我们取得了5个样本，5个不同的姥鲨样本

Five individual sharks were sampled

采用与西蒙姥鲨一样的系统采集分析

using Simon's Shark Slime Sampling System.

观众大笑

(Laughter)

(Applause)

观众鼓掌

我已经在爱尔兰研究鲸鱼和海豚将近20年

I've been working on whales and dolphins in Ireland for 20 years now,

而姥鲨是一种更为戏剧化的种类

and they're a bit more dramatic.

你们或许看到过座头鲸的精彩镜头

You probably saw the humpback whale footage

那组我们一两个月前在维克斯福郡拍摄的

we got a month or two ago off County Wexford.

而且我们常常认为我们因为拥有这些宝贵遗产足以把世界都抛弃在后

And you always think you might have some legacy

you can leave the world behind,

我一直在担心座头鲸在遭受破坏

and I was thinking of humpback whales breaching and dolphins.

还有海豚

但是你看，有时候这些小生物被送到了你面前

But hey -- sometimes these things are sent to you

而你只需要在他们来的时候带走它们，就像这些珍贵的黏液

and you just have to take them when they come.

所以这个就很有可能是我的宝贵遗产

So this is possibly going to be my legacy --

西蒙的黏液

Simon's Shark Slime.

今年我们得到更多的资金

We got more money this year

去继续收集更多的样本

to carry on collecting more and more samples.

One thing that is very useful is that we use a pole camera --

有一样东西非常有用

那就是我们用高杆摄像。这个是我的同事乔安妮拿着她的高杆照相机

this is my colleague, Joanne, with a pole camera --

你可以用它拍摄姥鲨的下面

where you can look underneath the shark.

你想看到的是雄鲨的鳍脚（雄性姥鲨交配器官）

What you're trying to look at is, the males have claspers,

一种长在姥鲨身体后方的垂状物

which kind of dangle out behind the back of the shark.

So you can quite easily tell the gender of the shark.

所以你可以很容易地区分出姥鲨的性别

如果我们可以区分姥鲨的性别

If we can tell the gender of the shark before we sample it,

在我们取样之前

我们可以告诉基因遗传专家这个是来自雄性还是雌性姥鲨

we can tell the geneticist this was taken from a male or a female.

因为现在，他们没有方法在基因分析时

Because in the moment, they have no way, genetically,

区分雌鲨和雄鲨

of telling the difference between a male and a female,

为此我觉得非常令人吃惊

which I find staggering,

因为他们不知道要分析的真正目的是什么

because they don't know what primers to look for.

如果能够告诉他们姥鲨的性别

Being able to tell the gender of a shark

就变得意义非凡

is very important for things like policing the trade

比如监管贸易往来

in basking shark and other species through the sightings,

在姥鲨和其他物种之间

因为这是不合法的

because it is illegal to trade in these sharks.

比如他们被捕捉并在市场上出售

And they are caught and are on the market.

所以作为一个野外实地生物学家

So as a field biologist,

you just want to get encounters with these animals,

你只是想接触这些动物

你想尽可能地了解它们

and learn as much as you can.

They're often quite brief, they're often very seasonally constrained.

姥鲨的生活很简单。它们的活动也经常受到季节的限制

而你只是想尽快尽可能地了解更多

You just want to learn as much as you can as soon as you can.

难道这不是件很奇妙的事吗？

But isn't it fantastic

that you can then offer these samples and opportunities

你可以提供这些样本

提供机会给其他一些领域专家，例如基因遗传专家

to other disciplines, such as the geneticists,

他们可以从中得到更多信息

who can gain so much more from that.

So as I said, these things are sent to you in strange ways.

所以正如我说的

这些东西以奇怪的方式赠给你。你应该尽可能拿了它们

Grab them while you can.

I'll take that as my scientific legacy.

我把它们作为我科学研究的宝贵遗产

Hopefully, I might get something a bit more dramatic and romantic

但愿在我去世之前，我可以得到一些更戏剧化甚至更浪漫的信息

before I die.

但是现在我只想说感谢大家

But for the time being, thank you for that.

感谢大家一直关注姥鲨

And keep an eye out for sharks.

If you're more interested, we have a basking shark website now set up.

如果你们对此感兴趣我们刚刚建立起一个有关姥鲨的网站

最后感谢大家前来听我的演讲

So thank you and thank you for listening.

(Applause)

观众掌声