The River Too Tells the Story

[babylonsister]

The River Too Tells the Story
Submitted by Chip on Sun, 2009-02-15 20:47.

The River Too Tells the Story
by Dahr Jamail | Inter Press Service


There is less water now in the Tigris, and it is less clean. The river has fewer fish, and rising fuel and other costs mean they are more costly to catch. It's not, as Hamza Majit finds, a good time to be a fisher.

“It’s getting worse everyday,” Majit told IPS on board his fishing boat.

“You see the low water level,” Majit said, touching the bottom of the river, just two metres down, with a wooden pole. “We need higher water to hold our nets up. And this is the deepest point in the Tigris in this area. With the water this low, it makes it difficult to catch any fish.”

Plastic bottles, grocery bags and other garbage are now more commonly seen floating down the once clear river. “Fish are a treasure from God, but now so much is preventing us from reaping our treasure,” said Majit.

Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Majit says, it was common to catch several dozen fish daily. Now, “we are lucky to catch ten.”

Now the government too is alarmed.

“The Tigris remains extremely polluted, and this situation continues to worsen,” Minister for the Environment Narmin Othman told IPS. “So many Iraqis are suffering from this. We realise it is a crisis, and we are looking for more ways the government can actively begin to solve the problem.”

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[msongs]

1. they could start by throwing less of their own trash in the river? nt

[babylonsister]

2. You are cold. They didn't have this problem before we showed up. nt