Ibrahim has fished the Euphrates River in Raqqa for 27 years using a 120-meter long net. He sells his catch along the river, using the money to feed his family.
Before the Syrian conflict he used to catch more than 100kg of fish per day. During the ISIS occupation and since the city’s liberation last year, however, Ibrahim’s daily catch has fallen to just 25kg.
One factor leading to the decline in fish stocks is the prevalence of dynamite fishing.
“For the past 2-3 years, dynamite has been used, causing damage to the fish,” says Ibrahim. “In the past, we used to catch 150kg of fish, but now it doesn’t reach 25kg due to a lack of oversight. I alone request for people to stop using dynamite because if there are no fish there would be no food for people.”
Ibrahim’s plea comes as the government downstream in neighboring Iraqi investigates the cause of a massive fish die-off earlier this month.
Fish markets were flung into crisis and exports blocked when hundreds of thousands of dead fish were discovered on riverbanks along the Euphrates.
The incident caused fear of deliberate poisoning or disease upstream. Initial government tests found a high level of ammonia and heavy metals in the river water, possibly caused by industrial waste.
The health of Iraq’s rivers has come into focus this year amid a worsening water crisis, caused by a combination of climate change, drought, poor management, and massive dam projects upstream in Turkey and Iran.
