Freshwater fishing is not usually the riskiest of occupations. Unless, that is, you’re a fisherman on the Joghaz reservoir, a sort of aquatic buffer between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In that case, you fish at night.

Built in the late 1970s for irrigation and a planned fish factory, the 2.14-square-kilometer reservoir, set against a majestic column of volcanic rock (called Gavazan or Göyəzən), may look Tolkienesque, but life here is no fantasy.

Since the early 1990s, when full-fledged war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh, this shimmering body of water has been off limits to both sides.

The risk of shelling from across the reservoir means that Armenian fishermen from the 465-person village of Berkaber, just 500 meters away from Azerbaijani military positions, take their boats out into the water mostly when it’s dark. To avoid snipers, they stay close to the shore.