Removing plastic benefits marine ecosystems: Evidence from four decades of endangered seal entanglement

Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) causes tremendous harm to marine species and ecosystems. To mitigate the destruction wrought by these ocean plastics, various cleanup programs have been established, though benefits of such efforts to marine species and ecosystems have not been demonstrated. We examined over 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 significant reduction in entanglement rate where debris removal effort was most concentrated. Large-scale and sustained removal of ALDFG meaningfully benefits marine ecosystems and has the potential to be transformational in restoration efforts., These data are based on tagging and visual monitoring of weaned Hawaiian monk seal pups in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, including observed incidents of entanglement in marine debris. The data were processed to calculate a robust rate of entanglement for comparison among populations and years. Poisson regression analyses were then used to determine factors, including the effect of large-scale marine debris removal, on the entanglement rate. Information on the timing, location, and amount of marine debris removed from islands and marine habitats were also summarized., , # Removing plastic benefits marine ecosystems: evidence from four decades of endangered seal entanglement [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b5mkkwhm3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b5mkkwhm3) The file *weaned pup entanglement rates.csv* contains calculated rates of weaned Hawaiian monk seal entanglement, which were based on visual monitoring if tagged pups at six subpopulation in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The file contains the following columns: row# = row index year = year subpop = specified monk seal subpopulation, coded as follows: ffs = French Frigate Shoals, lay = Laysan Island, lis = Lisianski Island, phr = Pearl and Hermes Reef, mdy = Midway Atoll, kur = Kure Atoll. expdays = number of observed weaned pup exposure days summed over all pups at a given subpopulation in a given year. This is the total number of days that pups were exposed to entanglement risk as weaned pups when standardized observation effort was also being conducted. effdays = number of days during ...废弃、遗失或以其他方式丢弃的渔具（Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear, 以下简称ALDFG）会对海洋物种与生态系统造成极大危害。为缓解这类海洋塑料所造成的破坏，学界已设立诸多海洋垃圾清理项目，但此类举措对海洋物种与生态系统的益处尚未得到证实。本研究梳理了夏威夷西北群岛开展大规模海洋垃圾清理行动前后40余年的夏威夷僧海豹（Hawaiian monk seal）海洋垃圾缠绕记录，结果显示在垃圾清理力度最大的区域，缠绕发生率出现了显著下降。大规模且持续的ALDFG清理工作可切实惠及海洋生态系统，且有望成为生态修复工作中的突破性举措。 本数据集基于夏威夷西北群岛对断乳期夏威夷僧海豹幼崽的标记与目视监测数据，包含观测到的海洋垃圾缠绕事件记录。研究人员对数据进行处理，以计算可靠的缠绕发生率，用于不同种群与年份间的对比。随后采用泊松回归分析，确定影响缠绕发生率的各类因素，其中包括大规模海洋垃圾清理的作用。研究同时汇总了从岛屿与海洋生境中清理的海洋垃圾的时间、位置与数量信息。 # 移除塑料惠及海洋生态：基于濒危海豹四十载缠绕记录的证据 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b5mkkwhm3 文件*断乳幼崽缠绕发生率.csv*包含经计算的断乳期夏威夷僧海豹缠绕发生率，数据基于夏威夷西北群岛六个亚种群的标记幼崽目视监测结果。该文件包含以下字段： row# = 行索引 year = 年份 subpop：指定的僧海豹亚种群，编码规则如下：ffs = 法国护卫舰浅滩（French Frigate Shoals），lay = 莱桑岛（Laysan Island），lis = 利西亚斯基岛（Lisianski Island），phr = 珍珠和赫尔姆斯礁（Pearl and Hermes Reef），mdy = 中途环礁（Midway Atoll），kur = 库雷环礁（Kure Atoll）。 expdays：特定年份内特定亚种群所有幼崽的观测断乳期暴露天数总和，即标准化监测开展期间，幼崽作为断乳个体面临缠绕风险的总天数。 effdays：……期间的天数（原文未完整说明）