Mass fish die-off in Iraq is ‘environmental disaster,’ says official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A mass die-off of fish in the drought-hit marshlands of southern Iraq has officials warning of an “environmental and economic disaster.”

“Hawizeh Marshes have witnessed the death of millions of fish due to not releasing water and consequently the lack of oxygen,” Hussein al-Mariani, a member of the Maysan provincial council, told Rudaw on Friday. 

Hawizeh Marshes, located between the provinces of Maysan and Basra on the Iraq-Iran border, covers an area of around 1,377 square kilometers. It, along with the Central and al-Hammar Marshes, make up the Mesopotamian Marshes - once the largest wetland ecosystem in Western Eurasia. They are fed by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, where water levels have dropped considerably in recent years. 

Iraq is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the United Nations. It is facing a severe water shortage because of reduced precipitation, higher temperatures, and waste and mismanagement.

The devastating effects of climate change are exacerbated by Turkish and Iranian dams upstream on shared rivers, cutting Iraq off from much-needed water relief. Baghdad has repeatedly called on Ankara and Tehran to release more water.

The water shortages pose a major threat to the marshes and their unique ecosystems.

"The state has placed millions of fish fingerlings in Hawizeh Marsh so that they would grow, with the aim of economically benefiting from them, but what has happened is an environmental and economic disaster,” Mariani said.

The marshes in Dhi Qar province have lost around 60 percent of their fish, accompanied by “a significant number of deaths” of cattle and buffaloes, according to provincial council spokesperson Yas al-Khafaji.

“We cannot hide our grave concern about the seriousness of the situation in the marshes, and there is daily communication with the Ministry of Water Resources in hopes of increasing water releases to save the marsh environment as much as possible,” Khafaji told the independent Baghdad Today.

Water levels have declined by nearly 50 percent in Dhi Qar province’s al-Hammar Marshes in recent years, leaving hundreds of fishermen without jobs.

In response to the recent reports, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani sent a team of agriculture and water resource officials, alongside a representative of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to investigate the situation in the marshes in Maysan, according to Iraqi state media.

The marshlands were subject to a massive drainage campaign by former dictator Saddam Hussein in 1991, who ordered they be drained as punishment for local communities who were protecting insurgents he sought to hunt down. The marshes have never fully recovered.

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has warned that water availability in Iraq will decrease by around 20 percent by 2025, threatening the long-term stability of the agriculture and industry sectors.