The endangered seahorse Hippocampus whitei has declined in abundance as a result of natural habitat loss, and inhabits copper-braided protective swimming nets in Sydney Harbour, Australia. This study tested whether the use of copper-free seahorse-friendly net material has any effect on populations of H. whitei. The effects of net material on seahorse density and population abundance, as well as the effects on fouling epibiota and the abundance of epifaunal seahorse prey, were tested on pre-existing swimming nets as well as installed panels of each net material type. Material type had no effect on the density or population abundance of seahorses on pre-existing or installed panels of swimming net, with no difference in fouling epibiotic growth or mobile epifauna. Because seahorse-friendly nets were not worse than standard nets in these respects, it is recommended that managers take a precautionary approach and deploy nets of seahorse-friendly material to minimise anthropogenic copper entering coastal systems.

中文翻译：

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评估游泳网材料对濒危海马种群的影响

由于自然栖息地丧失，濒临灭绝的海马Hippocampus whitei数量减少，栖息在澳大利亚悉尼港的铜编织保护游泳网中。这项研究测试了无铜海马友好网材料的使用是否对 H. whitei 种群有任何影响。网材料对海马密度和种群丰度的影响，以及对污垢表皮生物群和表皮海马猎物丰度的影响，在预先存在的游泳网以及每种网材料类型的安装面板上进行了测试。材料类型对预先存在或安装的游泳网面板上海马的密度或种群丰度没有影响，在污垢附生生长或移动附生动物方面没有差异。因为海马友好网在这些方面并不比标准网差，