Over 47 tons of plastic found at US marine reserve – and an entangled seal
美国海洋保护区发现超过47吨塑料垃圾，还有一只被缠住的海豹
Expedition spent 24 days clearing 10 miles of shoreline in Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, collecting 94,472lb marine debris
考察队24天清理了西北夏威夷群岛十英里海岸线，收集了94,472磅海洋废弃物
In a span of just over three weeks, more than 47 tons of plastic waste were removed from America’s largest protected marine reserve, sometimes directly off animals, a stark reminder of the scourge of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
在仅三周多的时间里，美国最大的海洋保护区就清理出了47吨塑料垃圾，有时是直接从动物身上清理的。这赤裸裸地警示着我们：世界海洋塑料污染祸患仍在。
An expedition spent 24 days clearing 10 miles of shoreline in the atolls and islands in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
一考察队花费24天清理了西北夏威夷群岛深处环礁和岛屿十英里的海岸线。
The team, led by a non-profit with support from state and federal agencies, collected 94,472lb of marine debris, aiming specifically for waste that poses an entanglement hazard to animals, such as derelict fishing gear, also called “ghost nets”.
该考察队由州立政府机构与联邦政府机构支持的非盈利组织牵头，收集了94,472磅海洋废弃物，其目的特别是在于清理那些会缠绕动物的垃圾，比如被丢弃的渔具，也被称为“鬼网”。
“On our first day we came across a four-year-old female Hawaiian monk seal who had a bit of net wrapped really tightly around her neck,” said Kevin O’Brien, the president of the Marine Debris Project, the non-profit that led the team. “You could see her trying to dig at it with her flipper.”
“海洋废弃物清理项目”是带领该考察队的非营利组织，该项目主任凯文·奥布莱恩表示，“第一天我们就遇见了一只4岁雌性夏威夷僧海豹，其颈部紧紧缠绕着一小片渔网，我们可以看到她当时正努力用鳍挣脱。”
The crew was able to remove the net, O’Brien said, adding that it was routine for them to come across animals entangled in debris.
奥布莱恩表示，考察队当时清除了渔网，而且碰见被废弃物缠绕的动物对他们来说是司空见惯的事情。
“There is no permanent human presence witnessing these events and it’s so telling that within one day we found an entangled monk seal,” he said. “For every one we do see there must be many more that go unseen.”
“并不会一直有人在场见证这些事情，一天之内我们就发现一只被缠绕的僧海豹，这足以说明问题的严重性，”他表示，“在每一只我们看到的僧海豹背后，一定还有很多未被发现的僧海豹。”
Of the waste collected on the expedition, ghost nets made up nearly 80,000lb of the haul, while more than 14,000lb were ocean plastics such as fishing buoys, baskets, plastic bottles and cigarette lighters.
在考察期间收集的垃圾中，“鬼网”有将近80000磅，有超过14000磅是海洋塑料垃圾，比如钓鱼浮标、篮子、塑料瓶以及打火机。
The marine reserve, covers more than half a million miles of Pacific Ocean and is a crucial habitat to the endangered Hawaiian monk seal as well as the threatened green turtle and 14 million seabirds.
该海洋保护区覆盖了超过50万英里的太平洋海岸线，是濒危物种夏威夷僧海豹、有受威胁物种绿海龟以及1400万只海鸟的重要栖息地。
However , ocean currents and its location near the Great Pacific garbage patch cause debris to collect on the uninhabited beaches. More than 2m pounds of marine debris have been removed from the monument since 1996.
然而，在洋流的作用下，加之该海洋保护区位置靠近“大太平洋垃圾带”，残留物聚集在荒野沙滩上。自1996年以来，该地区已经清理了超过200万磅的海洋残留物。
An estimated 11m tons of plastic waste reach the world’s oceans each year, an amount that is expected to triple in the next 20 years.
每年估计有1100万吨塑料垃圾进入世界海洋，在数量预计在未来20年内达到三倍。
Research has suggested that fish may actively seek out plastic debris because the pieces may smell similar to prey, and in Hawaii some fish begin consuming plastic within days of being born.
研究显示由于这些塑料废弃物气味和猎物相似，鱼类会主动靠近这些废弃物，而且夏威夷的一些鱼类在出生几天之内就开始食用塑料垃圾。
