Tracing the Plastic Tide

Delighted to share our latest publication: "Tracing the Plastic Tide: Assessing Microplastic Abundance and Distribution along the Attanagalu River in Sri Lanka."

We followed microplastics from the headwaters to the river mouth of the Attanagalu, across 15 sites, in both water and sediment. The story the river told us was sobering: microplastics were present everywhere, dominated by fibers, with the heaviest loads accumulating near the river mouth before entering our coastal seas. Raman spectroscopy revealed the usual suspects: polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, and PVC, quietly travelling downstream every single day.

But behind every data point is a bigger story, that of an undergraduate researcher who began this journey with curiosity, a sampling net, and the courage to ask difficult questions. At the Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMST), University of Sri Jayewardenepura, we believe globally competent scientists are not made at the end of a degree; they are shaped from the very first sample they collect.

To our students: The world needs your science. Sri Lanka's rivers, reefs, and oceans need your science. Keep asking. Keep measuring. Keep caring. 🌏

Congratulations to the team. This one is for the next generation of marine scientists rising from our shores.