Thriving history

The waters of the Aral Sea once supported a fishing industry that supported thousands. The town of Moynaq became the home of a huge fishing fleet and a canning industry which processed the fishermens’ catch.

But the controversial Soviet decision to divert the rivers feeding the Aral – in order to irrigate Uzbekistan’s cotton fields – starved the Aral Sea of water. The lake began to evaporate and recede in the 1960s.

As the waters shrank, the sea became saltier, and the fish began to die due to the rising concentration of fertilisers and pesticides.