Optimism and Hope At its peak in 1957, the Aral Sea produced more than 48,000 tons of fish, representing roughly 13 percent of the Soviet Union’s fish stocks
How many tons of fish were caught in the Aral Sea in its best year?
When the farm boom began in the 1960s, the Aral had a commercial fishery that brought in more than 40,000 tons of fish each year, hauled from the sea by ships more than a hundred feet long
Does the Aral Sea have fish?
The return of the North Aral Sea has fuelled a revival of the fishing industry in Aralsk In 2006, the annual fish catch totaled 1,360 tons, which comprised a majority of flounder – a saltwater species that the Kazakhs dislike
What species of fish are coming back to the Aral Sea?
As the Small Aral rises, delta and wetland areas are returning to the dry sea bed, and the harsh salinity of the lake is dropping Fish are starting to come back—first a salt-tolerant species of flounder, then perch, carp and catfish—and so are the fishing communities
How was the fishing industry affected by the shrinking Aral Sea?
The Aral Sea supported a thriving commercial fishing industry employing roughly 60,000 people in the early 1960s By 1977, the fish harvest was reduced by 75 percent, and by the early 1980s the commercial fishing industry had been eliminated
Can they fix the Aral Sea?
There is no work under way to restore the southern region It has always looked like a lost cause So Aladin says it will keep shrinking and getting saltier until only brine shrimp are left Using less water to irrigate crops could restore the entire Aral Sea, says Micklin
Can the Aral Sea be recovered?
The Aral Sea as a whole will never completely recover The shoreline has radically changed, and the South Aral Sea remains almost completely desiccated The North Aral Sea is recovering thanks to the $86 million Syr Darya Control and Northern Aral Sea project, funded by the Kazakh government and the World Bank
Why we destroyed the 4th largest lake?
The Aral Sea was, once upon a time, the fourth largest lake on the planet But, since the 1960s, the lake has been shrinking Rather, the Soviets began diverting water from the lake to irrigate cotton, a program designed to pump money into the Soviet economy
Does Kazakhstan exist?
Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and the ninth largest in the world The capital is Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana, Aqmola, and Tselinograd), in the north-central part of the country Kazakhstan, formerly a constituent (union) republic of the USSR , declared independence on December 16, 1991
Why is Aral Sea dry?
Beginning about 1960, the Aral Sea’s water level was systematically and drastically reduced, because of the diversion of water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for purposes of agricultural irrigation The Aral Sea began to quickly shrink because of the evaporation of its now unreplenished waters
Why is Aral Sea not a lake?
Sandwiched between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea is actually a lake, albeit a salty, terminal one It is salty because evaporation of water from the lake surface is greater than the amount of water being replenishing through rivers flowing in It is terminal because there is no outflowing river
How long will it take to refill the Aral Sea?
It would take 60 years to refill the Aral Sea to the volume it once was as the third largest freshwater body of water If the Amu Darya and Syr Darya stopped being diverted?
How big is the Aral Sea now?
26,255 mi²
How much has the Aral Sea shrunk?
With no other major source of water, the Aral Sea has been evaporating and shrinking ever since After 50 years, the lake’s area is 25 percent of its original size and it holds just 10 percent of its original volume of water
What was life like for people in the fishing industry when the sea was rich of fish?
What was life like for people in the fishing industry when the sea was rich of fish? Until about 1980, people in the fishing industry had plenty of work Each year, fishers caught 95 million pounds of fish People who worked in canneries produced over 20 million cans of seafood a year
How much water was lost from the Aral Sea?
Water Levels The primary effect of the Aral Sea desiccation has been the significant loss of water in the sea The water level has dropped approximately 23 meters since the onset of its primary sources of water being diverted (Zavialov 2005)
What sea did Russia drain?
Formerly the fourth largest lake in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects
How deep is the Aral Sea?
138′
What country was responsible for the reduction in the size of the Aral Sea?
By establishing a program to promote agriculture and especially that of cotton, Soviet government led by Khrouchtchev in the 1950s deliberately deprived the Aral Sea of its two main sources of water income, which almost immediately led to less water arriving to the sea
Is the Aral Sea getting bigger?
The North Aral Sea increased its level by four meters in only six months, increasing its size in one third in one year and recovering part of its aquatic fauna
Where is the the Dead Sea?
The Dead Sea is a landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan in southwestern Asia
Which Sea is drying up?
As the Aral Sea has dried up, fisheries and the communities that depended on them collapsed The increasingly salty water became polluted with fertilizer and pesticides The blowing dust from the exposed lakebed, contaminated with agricultural chemicals, became a public health hazard
How did the Aral Sea disappear?
In the early 21st century, the Soviet Union diverted the Aral sea’s primary fresh water sources, the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers, for irrigation of their cotton fields As a result, the sea has shrunk to two bodies of water: The North Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and the South Aral Sea in Uzbekistan
Is the Aral Sea Gone?
The Aral Sea was the world’s fourth largest lake, and used to lie across the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan It doesn’t any more It’s gone, reduced to a tenth of its size