Starter locating plate bolts missing?

I recently noticed that the two bottom bolts on either side of my boat's starter locating plate appear to be missing. The photos below are from the front of the engine facing back.





It appears that the holes on the flywheel housing and the locating plate don't line up perfectly, which is probably why the bolt's weren't installed by whoever last assembled things. The locating plate bends away slightly from the flywheel housing where the bolts are missing creating a small gap between the plate and the flywheel housing.

So: how big a deal are these missing bolts? I assume it makes it more likely that dirt and moisture from the bilge gets to the flywheel/damper plate. But it looks to me like it will involve quite a bit of disassembly to get the locating plate bolted up properly, so if not really necessary I'd ideally avoid going through the process. Maybe a cable tie or two will do the job for now?

Thanks as always for the advice and guidance!