Paper short abstract:

Stemming from an ethnography within the fishing community of Setúbal, Portugal, this paper proposes to clarify some misconceptions that target fisheries as a main cause of plastic pollution. Furthermore, we aim to reflect on the impact that plastic materials has had on fishing communities.

Paper long abstract:

Plastic pollution is one of the most frequently reported environmental problems in recent years. Part of all the plastics produced still exist today in oceans, seas and coastal areas. Due to the visibility it gained on the busy beaches and docks of the coastlines, large awareness movements emerged, along with other civil society movements, concern of activists and the media, which put the problem on the agenda. We see it associated with climate change and considered equally urgent. This urgency has led to heated blaming speeches which hide historic tensions.

Starting from an ethnographic approach within the fishermen of Setúbal, we can understand the relationship of this community with the plastic pollution for which they are considered responsible for, being the target of awareness actions. At the same time, it will be possible to understand the daily impact of climate change and adaptation strategies. This ethnography aims to clarify misconceptions caused by heated discourses of environmentalists spreading across civil society through social networks, starting from the voices of fishermen and their experience with plastic in daily life, drawing attention to the vulnerability they face in the context of contemporary environmental, social, economic and cultural challenges

Thus, it will be possible this to think about plastic pollution in the context of this community, but also to reflect on the role that the insertion of plastic played in fishing communities, contributing to the destruction of their way of life, and as an added pressure on uncertainty they are in today.