大太平洋垃圾帶威脅著夏威夷的海鳥種群

大太平洋垃圾帶威脅著夏威夷的海鳥種群

Flying into the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Midway Atoll appears out of the vast blue Pacific as a tiny oasis of coral-fringed land with pristine white sand beaches that are teeming with life.

中途島(Midway Atoll)飛抵夏威夷西北部無人居住的島嶼，在廣闊的藍(lán)色太平洋中，它是一片珊瑚環(huán)繞的小綠洲，有著原始的白色沙灘，那里充滿了生命。

But on the ground, there’s a different scene: plastic, pollution and death.

但在地面上，有一個(gè)不一樣的風(fēng)景：塑料，污染和死亡。

With virtually no predators, Midway is a haven for many species of seabirds and is home to the largest colony of albatross in the world.

中途島幾乎沒有捕食者，是許多海鳥的避風(fēng)港，也是世界上最大的信天翁群體的家園。

But Midway is also at the center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast area of floating plastic collected by circulating oceanic currents. The Hawaiian Islands act like a comb that gathers debris as it floats across the Pacific. A recent analysis found that the patch is accumulating debris at a faster rate than scientists previously thought.

但中途島也位于太平洋垃圾場的中心，這是一個(gè)由循環(huán)洋流收集的漂浮塑料的巨大區(qū)域。夏威夷群島就像一個(gè)梳子，收集漂浮在太平洋上的殘骸。最近的一項(xiàng)分析發(fā)現(xiàn)，這塊補(bǔ)丁積累碎片的速度比科學(xué)家之前認(rèn)為的要快。

Midway is littered with bird skeletons that have brightly colored plastic protruding from their decomposing bellies. Bottle caps, toothbrushes and cigarette lighters sit in the centers of their feathery carcasses.

中途島到處都是鳥類的骨骼，它們腐爛的腹部突出著色彩鮮艷的塑料。瓶蓋、牙刷和打火機(jī)坐在它們羽毛狀的尸體中心。

AP Photo/Caleb Jones

“There isn’t a bird that doesn’t have some (plastic),” said Athline Clark, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s superintendent for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which Midway is part of. They “fill their bellies up with plastics instead of food and eventually either choke or just don’t have enough room for actual nourishment and perish.”

美國國家海洋和大氣管理局(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)負(fù)責(zé)帕帕哈瑙莫庫阿基亞海洋國家紀(jì)念碑(Papahanaumokuakae Marine National Monument)的負(fù)責(zé)人阿特琳•克拉克(Athline Clark)說：“沒有一只鳥沒有塑料的。”他們“用塑料而不是食物填飽肚子，最終要么窒息，要么就是沒有足夠的空間來提供真正的營養(yǎng)，然后滅亡。”

Sharp plastic pieces can also perforate their intestines and esophagus.

尖銳的塑料碎片也會(huì)穿透他們的腸子和食道。

Papahanaumokuakea, which quadrupled in size under President Barack Obama in 2016, is the world’s largest marine conservation area and was inscribed in 2010 as a UNESCO mixed World Heritage site.

Papahanaumokuakea是世界上最大的海洋保護(hù)區(qū)，2010年被聯(lián)合國教科文組織列為聯(lián)合國教科文組織列為世界遺產(chǎn)。

“Papahanaumokuakea is both a biologically rich and culturally sacred place,” Clark said. “The Hawaiians call it a place of abundance, or aina momona.”

克拉克說：“帕帕哈瑙莫庫阿卡是一個(gè)生物豐富、文化神圣的地方。夏威夷人稱之為富饒之地，或艾娜·莫莫納。”

But circulating currents now bring an abundance of plastic and other trash from all around the Pacific Rim to Hawaii’s beaches. The debris ranges from tiny microplastics that nearly every animal in this marine ecosystem ingests to huge fishing nets that gather plants, animals and other debris while bulldozing across fragile coral reefs.

但現(xiàn)在，環(huán)流將大量的塑料和其他垃圾從環(huán)太平洋沿岸帶到夏威夷海灘。從海洋生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中幾乎每一種動(dòng)物都吞食的微小塑料微粒，到在脆弱的珊瑚礁上推搡時(shí)用來收集植物、動(dòng)物和其他碎片的巨大漁網(wǎng)，這些垃圾無所不有。

“The estimates are that there’s about 57,000 pounds of marine debris that washes ashore within this part of the archipelago annually,” Clark said.

克拉克說:“據(jù)估計(jì)，每年約有5.7萬磅的海洋垃圾沖上這片群島的海岸。”

AP Photo/Caleb Jones

And it’s not just the seabirds that are harmed by ocean plastic. Endangered Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles can die while entangled in plastic nets. Sharks and other apex predators eat smaller fish that feed on microplastic. Whales drag fishing line and buoys behind them during their long migrations across the world’s oceans.

受到海洋塑料傷害的不僅僅是海鳥。瀕臨滅絕的夏威夷僧海豹和綠海龜可能會(huì)死于塑料網(wǎng)中。鯊魚和其他處于食物鏈頂端的食肉動(dòng)物捕食以微塑料為食的小魚。在它們穿越世界海洋的長途遷徙中，鯨魚會(huì)在身后拖著釣魚線和浮標(biāo)。

It’s important to understand the relationship between the oceans, marine life and humans, Clark said.

克拉克說，了解海洋、海洋生物和人類之間的關(guān)系很重要。

She shared a Native Hawaiian proverb: “Ma o ke kai pili ai kakou.” It means, “The ocean connects us all.”

她分享了夏威夷當(dāng)?shù)氐囊痪渲V語：“Ma o ke kai pili ai kakou”。意思是，“海洋連接著我們所有人。”