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Coping Mechanism

One way to read this story is that nature thrives despite our destructive tendencies. And that is a win.

While the currents that create the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre largely trap items within the Gyre, it is home to island habitats that could potentially be colonized. And it is possible that some items can cross oceans without being caught in a gyre, potentially making exchanges between coasts a relatively common occurrence in the age of plastics.

Finally, the researchers caution against a natural tendency to think of these plastic-borne coastal species as "misplaced species in an unsuitable habitat." Instead, it appears that they are well suited to life in the open ocean as long as there's something there that they can latch on to

Wonder if over time these creatures will convert that plastic into something more suitable and useful for them to thrive in. Adversity is the mother on invention after all. Humans are consuming food and water contaminated in so many ways and yet not everyone is dropping dead from the full battery of ailments these contaminants can cause. The majority are learning to cope with nano-particles, heavy metals, pesticides and worse in their bodies. We are not that different from these creatures who learned to make a habitat out of plastic. 

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