If prompt action is not taken, Negombo lagoon's eco -system could soon be destroyed

Bloody, smelly kunu wala

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi

Fish, fish and more fish. It's not just fish...but shark. Heaps, nay mounds of shark, large, small, hammer-heads and others. Blood, gore, muck. The stench is unbearable, on a hot day. The crows are gathered in their hundreds, swooping down on the heaps of fish intestines, while dogs and cats surreptitiously drag away whatever they can. Small boys with large polythene bags collect the very small fish — some which have been torn away from the dead shark mother's stomach while being cleaned — maybe for their afternoon meal.

Men, sarongs pulled high up above their knees, feet covered with muck, shouting out numbers, weigh large fish, while others throw out more and more from the trawlers lined up at the shabby jetty. This is the Negombo "lellama" (fish market) on any day except the Sabbath. Yes, on Sunday the fishing folk leave their boats, the fish and the weighing scales behind and troop to church.

But what is different about this fishing hamlet? This activity has been going on for decades, this is the livelihood of the fishermen in the 35 villages and 12 islands around the Negombo lagoon.

The lagoon, considered the best in Asia, is in trouble exactly because of this activity, according to Felician Fernando of the Negombo Lagoon United Fisher People's Organisation. "The lagoon is a small one of about 3,200 hectares and the best example of a fine mix of "dediya" (salty and fresh water causing a brackish mix). Twice a day due to high and low tide, the sea water mixes with the fresh water which is fed to the lagoon by four canals - Hamilton, Dutch, Ja-ela and Dandugan Oya - making the lagoon-bed an ideal breeding ground for prawn, crab and small fish."

But now the lagoon which is the very source of the fishermen's livelihood has become a "kunu walak" (dirt pit), Mr. Fernando laments. One-fifth of the country's fish production is off-loaded at Negombo. About 350 craft unload around 20,000 to 30,000 kilos of big fish onto the small jetty. That's where the trouble starts.

Some of the big fish such as shark (mora), thalapath and balaya are bought for 'karola' (dried fish). The fish are cleaned, the shark fins cut off to be exported or sold to hotels for that delicacy of a soup, the heads chopped off and the intestines pulled out. The fish carcasses are taken away in lorries by the middlemen, while the heads and the intestines are dumped into the lagoon. The rotting heads have formed a one-foot layer at the bottom of the lagoon.

That is not the end of the pollution story. The waste oil from multi-day boats is dumped into the lagoon destroying the eco-system.

The flourishing lunch-packet trade at the jetty has also resulted in the polythene lunch paper being dumped into the lagoon, Mr. Fernando says.

The other major problems in the area are influential and wealthy people encroaching on the lagoon and resorting to illegal land-fills to put up buildings; the canals and the lagoon being used as the dump pit for plastic, cloth cut-pieces, chemicals, dyes and other waste material from the Free Trade Zone (FTZ), he stresses.

Dr. Jayampathy Samarakoon, team leader of the Integrated Resources Management Programme (IRMP) of the Central Environmental Authority said 500 multi-day boats and 2,000 small boats seek anchorage at the Negombo jetty daily. Multi-day boats, which go for deep-sea fishing carry much oil with them and when they return the burnt or waste oil is simply dumped into the lagoon. According to modest estimates about 150,000 litres are dumped every year.

Explaining the ill-effects of such pollutants — fish-heads, oil and also the polythene and other waste material dumped into the lagoon and the canals feeding it — he said the circulation of water in the lagoon was important for its health. These pollutants and land-fills were gradually constricting the channels and the mixing process of the water (salty and fresh) has been undermined. Therefore, the flow of pollutants to the sea is also restricted, resulting in most of the decaying fish-heads etc accumulating at the bottom of the lagoon.

The lagoon has also been a ready receiver for sewage and drainage, Dr. Samarakoon said. The Diya Honda Ela brings sewage from the prisons area and the waste from the Katunayake Air Force base has also been channelled here. This was not a problem earlier because the water flow at high and low tide washed this stuff out to sea. But now the picture has changed.

"When the fish-heads decay, chemical nutrients are released into the lagoon contributing to the growth of plants in it. Normally that was good, but excessive eutrophication (the process of a surplus of nutrients supporting a dense plant population, which kills animal life by depriving it of oxygen) leads to the manifestation of filamented algae as in the Beira lake. But unlike the microscopic algae found there, the Negombo lagoon has long-leafed algae which could spread through the whole canal system, impeding the growth of small fish."

The more plants in the lagoon, the more carbon dioxide there would be in the water. The plants take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide, but whenever there is light, photosynthesis takes place, where plants take in light and carbon dioxide and make food. But the second process occurs only when there is sunlight, while the first process goes on throughout the day, thus releasing more carbon dioxide into the water, slowly poisoning other life forms, he said.

Pointing out that 3,000 fisher-families live directly off the lagoon and another 1,500 fish in the sea close to its mouth, Dr. Samarakoon said when the lagoon eco-system is affected the small fish, prawn and crab will die off. Then those fishermen would lose their livelihood. What is the answer? Dr. Samarakoon said the IRMP was attempting to work out certain schemes with government, private and non-governmental organisations to curb lagoon pollution.

IRMP's co-team leader Hans Rolloos said lack of care and implementation of pollution management programmes had resulted in the situation. The IRMP was holding discussions with many multinational and private companies about collection and recycling of these pollutants. Projects are on the drawing board with regard to oil waste and fish-heads. The oil waste could be recycled as fuel and used in the Puttalam cement factory, glass factories, as wood preservatives and also compost.

"We have also launched programmes to make fishermen and their co-operatives aware of the damage caused by dumping these pollutants in the lagoon," he said.

With regard to the fish-heads, the IRMP was talking to private companies and also non-governmental organisations to make arrangements to collect and chop them up to be used as compost or even fish-meal.

Dr. Samarakoon says that economics are the problem with fish-heads. The IRMP was attempting to introduce small-scale technology whereby fish-heads could be turned into fish-meal by small entrepreneurs at a profit.

The fishermen and boat owners have their own problems and don't seem to have an option but to continue to pollute the lagoon. Suranga Thamel (22) whose father owns a multi-day boat said it goes out to sea for about a month. The fish are caught in the waters near Bangladesh.

Taking time off amidst the weighing of fish, Suranga said their boat pumps about 12 gallons of burnt oil into the waters after one trip. "What can we do?" he asks sheepishly when we tell him he's polluting the water. "Pari palanayak ne" (There's no management).

Suranga says because they are "pitagam karayas" (outsiders) they have to pay three percent of their fish-sale income to the "Lellama Samithiya" (a co-operative managing the jetty area), but there are no facilities for the fishermen. "We are here from about 3 a.m. till late afternoon, but we don't even have a toilet," he laments.

There is no registration of boats by any authority. There's no control of the fishing — what has happened is that 'moru' have been fished clean out of Sri Lankan waters. "Our boats have to go very far to get a good catch. If fishing is restricted and young fish are allowed to breed and grow we could fish closer home. Then the expense for us and also the use of oil will reduce," Suranga says. Steps could also be taken either by the municipality, the samithiya or some other organisation to do something with the waste oil and the fish-heads, he adds.

Another boat-owner, K.N.E. Pieris echoes the same thoughts and also grumbles at the lack of facilities. He is from the area, so he pays the samithiya only one percent of sales as commission.

D.S. Fernando of the co-op waves his hand at a low wall being constructed round the jetty and says they are doing many things. There are moves to make manure out of fish-heads and get boat-owners to fill barrels with waste oil so that it can be recycled, he says, but does not know when and how it is going to be done.

Meanwhile, Henry Fernando also from the Negombo Lagoon United Fisher People's Organisation says that the problems caused by illegal land filling and polluting of the lagoon and canals could be stopped if the law is implemented. But most of the enforcement authorities are passing the buck. When any complaints or issues are taken up the officials concerned claim it does not fall under their purview. He cited several instances of blatant and illegal land-filling near the Negombo resthouse, in Kuruna, near the Delatura Oya, in Kepungoda and in Talahena. Prawn and crab breeding in the lagoon has reduced. About a month ago a big fish and several small ones were found dead in the lagoon for no apparent reason. Most probably, pollutants killed them, Mr. Fernando said.

Looking into the murky waters of the Negombo lagoon, with some fish-heads and polythene floating around one thing seems crystal clear - prompt action is needed or else the fishermen themselves will destroy their source of livelihood. If no action is taken the lagoon's eco-system will be ruined, the marine life will die an agonised death and the food chain will break. Who will then suffer and face starvation? It's the men, women and children who live around and off the lagoon.

It's a hard life

Life is not easy for the fishermen who live in Negombo, though to the average Sri Lankan the money may seem good.

John Mama is the captain of the trawler "Ajith Gihan" which goes out deep-sea fishing as far as the Bay of Bengal. He and his crew of seven are out at sea for nearly a month. A major part of the month is spent on the outward and inward journey. And their shopping list for the trip reads like a giant's menu: 300 kilos of rice, 200 coconuts.................and gallons and gallons of drinking water.

They have seen other fishing boats being shot at in Sri Lanka's northern waters, boats getting captured by the authorities of other countries and even heard of disappearances in the high seas.

They bring back the hauls of big fish, sometimes valued at as much as Rs. 10 lakhs, pay the samithiya's commission and share the balance half-half with the boat owner. Later the crew share that half among them.

Being on the high seas in all types of weather is tough and their weather-beaten and rugged appearance is proof of that. They set off with a prayer to the important saints that they'll be able to see the Negombo lagoon again.

Now they are also learning the importance of protecting their lagoon and the seas close-by. Then may be they will not have to go so far to fish.

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