Great Pacific Garbage Patch has increased 100-fold since the 1970s The plastic particles are being vacuumed up by marine life and birds, and the mix is heavy with toxic chemicals. The study said the NPSG is providing a new habitat for ocean insects called "sea-skaters" which prey on plankton and fish eggs and are in turn fed on by seabirds, turtles and fish. The insect, which spends its entire life at sea, needs a hard surface on which to lay its eggs - previously limited to relatively rare items like floating wood, pumice and sea shells. If microplastic density continued to grow, insect numbers would increase as well, the scientists warned, "potentially at the expense of prey such as zooplankton or fish eggs."