Drought, rising temperatures expected to kill millions of fish this year

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Millions of fish will die in the Kurdistan Region this year due to low water levels, an official from the ministry of agriculture and water resources told Rudaw on Tuesday.

“The exact amount of fish that will die is unclear, though it will be in the millions,” Sirwan Saeed, head of the ministry’s directorate for fisheries, told Rudaw’s Hemin Baban.

“We can already see the effects, and with the increase in temperature levels we will see them even more.”

On a yearly basis, around a million fish die due to rising temperatures and the flow of sewage into the dams, Saeed explained. But this year, he expects the numbers will be much higher. 

This past winter and spring saw significantly less snow and rainfall than average and neighboring countries have built several dams in recent years, holding onto water in shared rivers, which has led to major problems for Iraq.

Kurdish officials have previously warned of dropping water levels.

Kurdish farmers have also said they will face a “catastrophe” as Iran blocks the water supply into the region. Farmers have already been affected by the water shortages. Shepherds in Garmian have abandoned their traditional farming areas to seek greener pastures elsewhere. Directors of the Duhok and Dukan dams have both raised concerns about low water levels. 

Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN, yet it lags behind its neighbors in creating a plan to better manage its water supply.  

Iraq's ministry of water resources said last week that they are holding talks with neighboring countries to secure Iraq’s share of water.  Tehran is building a network of dams and canals while Ankara has constructed a mega-dam on the Tigris River at the cost of the ancient city of Hasankeyf that is now underwater.

The United Nations’ Watercourses Convention of 1997 governs transboundary water resources, however, only a few dozen states are party to the convention, under which nations are obligated to respect and equitably share water with their neighbors. The treaty has been signed by Syria and Iraq, but not by Turkey or Iran.