Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers spent three weeks near a huge patch of plastic called the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."
The scientific results come from a voyage led by a group of Scripps graduate students.
One of those student researchers is Rebecca Asch.
She said you might assume fish near so much plastic would eat some.
But not these fish.
"So we thought that since they are visual predators they would potentially be able to see the plastic and avoid consuming it," Asch said. "So it was somewhat surprising to find about nine percent of the fish are eating plastic."
Asch and study co-author Peter Davison estimate fish in the intermediate ocean depths of the North Pacific ingest plastic at a rate of roughly 12,000- to 24,000 tons per year.
"I think it says something just about human impact on ecosystems that even these very, very remote places where there is very little direct human contact are affected by human activities and pollution," Asch said.
She said they studied 141 fishes spanning 27 species.
The new study did not look at effects such as toxicological impacts on fish and composition of the plastic.
She said the study looked at smaller fish which are part of the food chain for larger fish.
"So those larger fish are things that we eat, so, it's potentially a concern about how plastic and associate toxins can get into the food web," said Asch. "It definitely has implications in terms of the health of the ocean, the health of the species, But I think it's a little bit too soon to say that it's definitely getting into fish that we're eating, but it's a possibility."
