Chinese mitten crabs have burrowed into the beds of the beautiful canals of Bruges and are wreaking havoc in Belgium’s waterways.

中國的河蟹已經(jīng)在布魯日美麗的運河河床里挖洞了，在比利時河道泛濫成災。

The extent of the freshwater crab invasion was exposed after a single trap in the Flemish municipality of Grobbendonk caught 715,000 crabs in six months, twice as many as last year,

佛蘭德斯的格羅本頓克市一個捕蟹裝置六個月內(nèi)就捕捉了715,000只螃蟹，是去年的兩倍，由此可以看出這種淡水蟹的入侵規(guī)模了。

In Bruges, called the “Venice of the North” because of its iconic canals, a mitten crab was spotted strolling through the Graf Visartpark park with its hairy pincers held nonchalantly aloft.

布魯日因其標志性的運河而有“北方威尼斯”的美稱，有一只河蟹被發(fā)現(xiàn)在格拉夫維薩特公園里舉著毛茸茸的鉗子在悠閑地散步。

The mitten crabs, so named for their furry claws, are listed as one of the 100 most invasive alien species in the world. They have no natural predators in Europe and compete with native species for food.

這種絨蝥蟹因毛茸茸的鉗子而得名，入選世界100種最具侵略性的外來物種，在歐洲沒有天敵，還和當?shù)匚锓N爭食。

They destroy rivers and unbalance ecosystems by shredding and eating everything they find on river beds. They can even damage infrastructure such as dams or destroy fishing gear.

它們會粉碎并吃掉所有在河床上找到的東西，從而破壞河流和生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的平衡，甚至還能破壞水壩這樣的基礎設施，或者毀掉漁具。

Plans for a second Flemish crab trap are underway. Once caught, the crabs, which normally live in coastal areas in Eastern Asia, are killed but the increasing numbers have meant that costs have soared.

佛蘭德斯正計劃再投放一個捕蟹裝置，這些本該生活在東亞沿海地區(qū)的螃蟹被捕捉后會被殺掉，但螃蟹數(shù)量持續(xù)增長也意味著捕蟹成本會飆升。

Authorities are mulling over whether to try and sell the captured crabs back to China, where they are a culinary delicacy.  Live crabs are sold from vending machines in China and Ms Smet said the lock on the crab trap in Flanders had been forced by someone “interested in our catch”.

當?shù)卣紤]是否要試試把捕捉到的螃蟹賣回中國，在中國河蟹就是一道美味佳肴。中國的自動售賣機里就出售活螃蟹，Smet女士說有“對我們捕蟹感興趣的”人把佛蘭德斯的捕蟹裝置強行上鎖。

Selling the crabs would require private sector involvement. It is not clear that the crabs would be safe to eat but they could also be ground to make fish food.

售賣螃蟹就需要私人部門的參與，還不清楚這些螃蟹是否適合食用，但也可以把它們碾碎當魚食。

The crabs are thought to have travelled to Europe from China in water taken on by ships as ballast. When the ballast water was emptied, the crabs were flushed out into European waters.

普遍認為這些螃蟹是從中國隨著裝船作壓艙物的水帶入了歐洲，壓艙水被放出時，螃蟹也就被沖進了歐洲水域中。