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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夏威夷僧海豹四十年的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损害。为了减轻海洋塑料碎片造成的破坏，已经制定了各种清理计划，但据我们所知，此类努力对海洋物种和生态系统的好处尚未得到实证证明。我们检查了夏威夷西北部群岛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，纠缠率大幅下降。大规模、持续清除废弃、丢失或以其他方式丢弃的渔具对海洋生态系统具有重大意义，并且有可能在恢复工作中带来变革。