Healthy, convenient and increasingly popular over the past few years, sushi has become as common a cuisine¹ in the UK as Indian or Chinese.

健康、方便的寿司在过去几年越来越受欢迎，已经和印度菜、中餐一样成为英国人的家常食品。

It’s a staple² lunch-choice for city-workers all over the country and you’re never far from a restaurant or supermarket selling the traditional Japanese delicacy³.

寿司现在是英国大小城市上班族的主要午餐选择，附近随便哪家餐厅或超市都在卖这种传统日本美食。

But it turns out sushi may not be as wholesome⁴ a choice as we previously⁵ thought – leading biologists have warned that it is in fact harming both the environment and our health.

不过后来人们发现寿司并不像大家之前想的那么健康有益，权威生物学家警告说，事实上寿司对环境和人体健康都有害。

The UK sushi market is worth £69m a year, but because we’re eating so much of it, tuna supplies in the oceans are dwindling⁶.

英国每年寿司的市场总值达6900万英镑，但因为消费的寿司量太大，海洋里的金枪鱼供应量正在不断缩减。

According to Professor Daniel Pauly and Dr Dirk Zeller, the leaders of the Sea Around Us project at the University of British Columbia, bluefin and yellowfin tuna populations have reached “crisis” levels.

丹尼尔•保利教授和德克•泽勒博士是英属哥伦比亚大学“我们身边的海洋”项目的领头人，他们指出蓝鳍金枪鱼和黄鳍金枪鱼都已陷入短缺危机。

Bluefin tuna tends to be served in high-end, luxury sushi restaurants, whereas yellowfin is more common in high-street sushi bars and supermarkets.

蓝鳍金枪鱼通常在高档豪华的寿司餐厅里供应，而黄鳍金枪鱼则在商业街的寿司小店和超市里更为常见。

Increasing global demand means sushi populations are being overfished. Most of the UK’s sushi comes from the Indian Ocean, but according to Professor Pauly we now only have 2-3 percent of what we had 200 years ago.

全球对寿司的需求量增大意味着用来做寿司的鱼类将被过度捕捞。英国多数做寿司的鱼来自印度洋，但是据保利教授介绍，我们现在能在印度洋捕捞的寿司鱼类（金枪鱼）数量只有200年前的2%到3%。

“We are in permanent crisis if you look at it in historic terms,” he warned.

他警告说：“从历史的角度来看，我们正处于永久性的危机当中。”

Professor Pauly and Dr Zeller believe it is our love of healthy tuna that’s causing the problems in our oceans.

保利教授和泽勒博士认为，我们的海洋出现这些问题，正是因为我们太爱吃健康的金枪鱼的缘故。

The fish is popular not just for its taste but for its health benefits – it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which aid heart health.

金枪鱼受欢迎不仅是因为它的美味，还因为它给人体健康带来的益处——金枪鱼富含有益心脏健康的欧米珈-3脂肪酸。

But whilst sushi has a reputation for being low in calories and high in nutrients⁷, we may have overestimated⁸ its health value.

不过尽管寿司以低热量高营养著称，我们可能高估了它的健康价值。

In advance of a lecture at the Zoological Society of London lately, Professor Pauly revealed he believes most high-street restaurants serve sushi that contains plastic microbeads, the controversial tiny particles often found in face-scrubs and beauty products.

日前在伦敦动物学学会讲课前，保利教授透露说，他认为多数商业街餐厅卖的寿司里含有塑料微珠，这种有争议性的小颗粒物常见于磨砂洗面奶和美容产品中。

“Microbeads are poison pills which soak up all the pollutants⁹ and they are consumed by little fish which are then eaten by tuna,” Professor Pauly explained.

保利教授解释说：“这种小微珠就是毒药丸，它吸收了所有的污染物，先被小鱼吃掉，然后小鱼再被金枪鱼吃掉。”

What’s more, according to Dr Zeller, sushi often contains high levels of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, which are chlorine compounds found in waterways that have been linked to causing cancer.

泽勒博士表示，除此以外，寿司还含有大量的汞（水银）和多氯联苯，这些存在于水路的氯化合物可致癌。

So what should we eat instead? Dr Zeller and Professor Pauly are urging the public to step away from sushi and eat more fish like anchovies¹⁰ and sardines¹¹ – less glamorous¹², but potentially better for your health and the environment.

不吃寿司，那我们应该吃什么呢？泽勒博士和保利教授敦促公众少吃寿司，多吃凤尾鱼和沙丁鱼这样的鱼类，虽然没有金枪鱼那么有诱惑力，但是对健康和环境都更有益。