Abstract:
This document reports a hermeneutic
phenomenological study of household-sourced plastic and
polythene pollution on the seabed of the Negombo lagoon,
on the west coast of Sri Lanka. Five long-standing lagoon
users, all men over fifty years of age with between
eighteen and forty years of direct experience of the
lagoon, were interviewed about the changes they have
witnessed on the mangrove seabed, in the fishery and in
lagoon-based tourism. Their accounts are read together
with the lead researcher's own field observation from
cleanup work, guiding and informal conversation in the
same community. The respondents describe a seabed once
covered by sand and soft soil that is now patched with
plastic and polythene of household rather than industrial
origin, a visible fall in fish and prawn density, and
damage caused by day visitors to the mangrove islands.
These lived accounts correspond closely with recent
instrumented sampling of microplastics in the same
lagoon. The paper reads the findings through a
management lens, arguing that cleanup alone will not
hold unless collected plastic is given a recoverable
economic value and the fishing and tourism-boat
community is engaged as a stakeholder rather than a
bystander. Short, medium and long term
recommendations are offered, linking ecological
restoration to livelihood and tourism management
outcomes.
