Gangs, smugglers, poison? Iraq's dead fish kick up stink

Poisoned water, illegal dams and even armed clashes: these days, fishing for precious barbels in Iraq's majestic river marshes involves navigating precarious waters.

For centuries, civilisations in southern Iraq have made a living from farming and fishing the whiskered, carp-like fish native to the twin Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Thousands of tonnes floated up to the surface of the wetland - dead. The causes of the mass premature deaths remain unclear, but marsh-based fishermen have some theories.

Fishermen blame groups with alleged links to fish importers for poisoning local supplies, although they did not specify what substance may have been used.

It's not Iraq's first riverine disaster: in 2018, fish farmers alleged their stocks were poisoned after millions of carp, used in the national dish masgoof, died.

This year, a preliminary study by the agriculture ministry ruled out any viral or bacterial cause, so allegations of foul play are again floating to the surface.

One speculative theory swirling among Iraqis is that Turkish and Iranian companies that usually import seafood stocks into Iraq had paid people to deliberately poison the marshes or disrupt water flows.

The marshes are home to rich flora and fauna, migrant birds and huge water buffalo, whose milk is made into a creamy cheese eaten at Iraqi breakfasts.

Hassan al-Rusha, a buffalo herder in Wasit, said poisoned waters killed 50 of his flock and caused more than 135 miscarriages of pregnant buffalo.

There could be long-lasting damage to the marshlands' biological diversity, warned Diwaniyah's environmental commissioner Raghad Abdessada. | The chief of the local fishermen's union sails across the Delmaj marsh in Iraq's southern province of Diwaniyah