Scientists have discovered species of oysters and coastal anemones living and breeding in large quantities in the waste floating on the surface of the waters of the Pacific Ocean, according to a study revealed Monday.

Environmental scientists have for years been interested in what they call the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is large amounts of plastic waste, including bottles and fishing nets, floating on the surface of the ocean.

American researchers who examined samples of this garbage, which they pulled from the northeastern Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii, indicated that they found 37 species of invertebrates growing in coastal areas, most of which came from countries on the other side of the ocean, such as Japan, for example.

"The high seas are home to a variety of coastal species that live and breed in the open ocean," they said in the study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

The study noted that "coastal species are still present in the open ocean as an essential component of a new marine population that is sustained by the large amount of plastic debris."

More than two-thirds of the items studied contained coastal species, including crustaceans, sea anemones and algae-like creatures called mosses.

And in 2012, scientists found plastic waste "inhabited by organisms" on the coast of North America, washed up by the tsunami that struck Japan in 2011.

The study indicated that the organisms can spread rapidly by receiving food from layers formed by bacteria and algae on top of the floating plastic. Scientists now have to investigate how the new organisms have adapted to the ocean food chain.

"Our finding that coastal species are commonly spotted on the same plastic litter as native marine species is an indication that these two groups are interacting with each other," lead study author Lynsey Haram told AFP.

"These interactions may include competition for food, space and predation," she added, noting that "more research is needed to understand whether the effects of the emergence of new species are positive or negative."

Members of the same research team, in an article published in 2021, warned that the influx of invasive coastal species "may herald significant environmental changes in the marine environment."

A study published in 2017 in the journal "Science Advances" confirmed that if waste production and management continues as it is now, 12 billion tons of plastic waste will be recorded floating in the ocean or in the natural environment by 2050.

And the energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven pledged, during the conclusion of their talks in Japan on Sunday, to reduce any new plastic pollution to zero by the year 2040.