Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear causes harm to marine species and ecosystems. To mitigate the destruction wrought by this ocean plastic debris, various cleanup programs have been established, though to our knowledge the benefits of such efforts to marine species and ecosystems have not yet been empirically demonstrated. We examined more than 40 years of Hawaiian monk seal marine debris entanglement records before and after large-scale marine debris removal efforts were initiated in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, demonstrating a substantial reduction in entanglement rates where debris removal effort was most concentrated. Large-scale and sustained removal of abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear meaningfully benefits marine ecosystems and has the potential to be transformational in restoration efforts.

中文翻译：

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四十年来的夏威夷僧海豹纠缠数据揭示了清除塑料碎片的好处


废弃、丢失或以其他方式丢弃的渔具会对海洋物种和生态系统造成危害。为了减轻这些海洋塑料碎片造成的破坏，已经制定了各种清理计划，尽管据我们所知，这些努力对海洋物种和生态系统的好处尚未得到实证证明。我们研究了夏威夷群岛西北部开始大规模海洋垃圾清除工作前后 40 多年的夏威夷僧海豹海洋垃圾纠缠记录，结果表明，在垃圾清除工作最集中的地方，纠缠率大幅降低。大规模和持续地清除废弃、丢失或以其他方式丢弃的渔具对海洋生态系统有益，并有可能在恢复工作中产生变革性影响。