Large numbers of fish have died in the Euphrates River amid fears of overfishing

Activists circulated a video clip showing large numbers of dead fish on the banks of the river in a scene that reflects the great damage to the fish wealth, at a time when residents attributed the reason to some fishermen resorting to using toxic substances, including “lanit” poison during the fishing process.

This matter, if proven, will have major repercussions not only on fish wealth, but also to various components of the aquatic environment.

Many fishermen also resort to another method that is no less harmful to fish wealth, which is the electric shock method to catch fish in the middle of the Euphrates River. Perhaps this explains the death of fish in such a large quantity.

However, a definitive determination of the ultimate responsibility for this environmental disaster primarily requires field detection, taking samples of water and fish, and conducting the necessary tests by the competent authorities, especially since the use of toxins in rivers to catch fish, if proven, could extend to other aquatic organisms and affect the food chain and the environmental balance within the river, and its effects could also affect humans through the consumption of contaminated fish.

The use of illegal means in fishing operations often leads to the depletion of the fish wealth in the Euphrates River at the level of quantity and quality, including river creatures that are not targeted by fishing, so that this leads to a threat to fishermen in their sources of livelihood, which can be lonely.

After a season of unprecedented rains and floods this year, many experts, residents, and fishermen are optimistic about the recovery of fishing in the Euphrates River for reasons related to the rise in water levels and the erosion of riverbeds due to floods, where river weeds on which fish feed abound, allowing species that were not previously present to return to the surface of the water to become accessible to citizens’ tables. However, overfishing has brought things back to square one, which portends an environmental disaster that may threaten the entire fishing process.