Tastubek is a small fishing village positioned on the coast of the Aral Sea. When the waters of the ocean receded on account of Soviet-era irrigation tasks, life right here successfully stopped.
After the completion in 2005 of a dam that tried to revive a nook of the barren sea, a small fishing trade was revived. Now the northern Aral sea is receding as soon as extra, however fishermen within the village of Tastubek nonetheless take out their boats every day to catch what they’ll.
Within the predawn twilight, the steppes across the Aral Sea look bleak and infinite.
The one options seen from the practice I’m using in are concrete energy poles and the occasional herd of camels chewing the dusty grass.
My route runs from Kyzylorda to Aral, a metropolis in southern Kazakhstan that when stood on the shore of a lake so big that it was referred to as a sea. The railway station right here continues to be referred to as “Aral Sea,” though there hasn’t been a shoreline right here for many years.
From Aral, it’s one other 70 kilometers farther to succeed in the coast of the shrunken sea.
Within the late Eighties, the shallowing Aral Sea break up into two elements. The Syr Darya River flowed into the northern half, and a dam was deliberate that will seal up the influx of the Syr Darya and forestall any of its waters draining in the direction of the southern half of the Aral Sea
At first, the dam was comprised of sand and clay which was twice washed away. Finally the World Financial institution allotted cash for the development of a concrete barrier, and in 2005 a 13-kilometer dam was accomplished. But it surely was removed from an ideal repair.
The concrete dam is simply 6 meters excessive, and the northern sea often overflows into the south together with fish that die within the salty water on the opposite facet of the barrier.
Now some are calling for the dam to be raised by one other 6-8 meters to allow the northern sea to rise increased. However such an extension would require a large funding.
Within the mid-2000s, the venture to save lots of the northern Aral was thought of a hit. The reservoir crammed up, salinity decreased, and fish shares rebounded. The complete revival of the Aral continues to be being mentioned, however with much less optimism than earlier than as a result of diminishing waters of the Syr Darya River.
In Aral, I step off the practice and climb right into a four-wheel-drive automobile to cross the remaining desert to succeed in Tastubek, a village close to the Aral Sea. Fishermen and cattle breeders stay within the settlement; there are not any different methods to make a residing.
My driver, Serik, is a middle-aged Kazakh, born and raised in Aral. Serik heard from his mother and father about how the Aral Sea as soon as lapped close to Aralsk; he is too younger to have seen it for himself.
Serik’s mom labored at a fish manufacturing unit for 25 years. “It was a big manufacturing unit, you would name it a city-forming enterprise,” Serik says. “When there was water within the sea about 3,000 folks labored on the manufacturing unit.”
His father labored at a shipyard, however when the water receded, Serik says, “all of those enterprises closed.”
Serik runs a enterprise out of Aral taking vacationers to a number of the well-known locations across the Aral Sea. He as soon as took guests to the well-known “ship graveyard” however locals just lately sawed up the ships and offered them for scrap metallic.
Tourism is an efficient enterprise, Serik says, but it surely’s strictly seasonal. In winter, nobody comes right here.
As we bump alongside a dusty gravel highway, Serik talks about what has modified right here in recent times. He says well being issues that when plagued folks within the area have apparently turn out to be much less widespread. “The wind used to hold salt from the underside of the dried-up sea and virtually each second individual had issues with their lungs and their kidneys,” the driving force claims. “However now we don’t complain, it appears we’ve turn out to be much less sick. We’ve in all probability gotten used to it. And the Northern Aral has risen, there’s much less salt.”
At present round 120 folks stay in Tastubek. There’s a college, electrical energy, and a gradual Web connection.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, the Aral Sea grew to become so shallow that Tastubek all however died out. Simply seven or eight households stayed on, solely as a result of they’d nowhere else to go. After the dam was constructed and the water started to return to the northern a part of the Aral Sea, folks began to return. These had been primarily unemployed children who hoped to outlive by fishing.
I meet two fishermen brothers in Tastubek — Serzhan and Nurzhan. The youthful brother, Nurzhan, is engaged in fishing and breeds camels and horses. His spouse, Aykorke, works as a schoolteacher and raises their 4 youngsters.
Nurzhan is a brief, quiet man who talks about himself reluctantly.
“My father fished right here, so did my grandfather, so I stick with it the custom. I like Tastubek, it’s calm and quiet, the ocean is close by, there’s fish,” he says.
“I might go away tomorrow if I felt prefer it, however I don’t need to. That is my dwelling. In the summertime we make fermented milk, in autumn we promote meat, and within the winter and spring we fish.”
Nurzhan has a big new home, which continues to be being accomplished. Within the yard, there’s a pen for camels and several other sheds. Within the evenings, Aykorke milks the camels and begins the fermentation course of for the fizzy milk that may be a standard drink in Kazakhstan all through summer time. On the entrance to the home, searching canine sit ready. In autumn they are going to be busy when Nurzhan begins capturing geese alongside the coast and hares on the steppe.
Fishing can be partly seasonal. In winter and spring, fish within the Aral Sea are extra lively and simpler to catch in nets. By way of the cooler months, a fisherman’s haul additionally stays recent longer for transport to metropolis markets. In summer time, the fish of the Aral Sea are likely to swim deeper the place the water is cooler and they are often arduous to catch. Many of the fishermen working the Aral Sea in summer time are catching fish just for themselves and their households.
The fish inhabitants is immediately linked to the depth of the Aral Sea, locals say. When the water degree sinks, so does the fish inhabitants. In 2019, water ranges on the Syr Darya River had been low and fish grew to become scarce.
“There have been years [a long time ago] once we caught 80–100 kilograms a day, now that is solely a reminiscence,” Nurzhan says.
On the shore once we go to within the night, a number of Soviet-designed UAZ autos are already parked up and fishermen are busy making ready boats within the shallows. After 20 minutes to get their boat arrange, Nurzhan and Serzhan are on their method of their small vessel.
The boat picks up velocity and heads towards the sundown. The shore disappears from view and the greenish water foams underneath the propeller. Nurzhan sits on the stern, controlling the motor with one hand and holding a GPS navigator with the opposite. The machine helps him discover the precise place the place he must set the nets.
The place the place we cease is shallow sufficient that you could see the underside. Serzhan says the ocean has been getting shallower in recent times, though he says, “there’s a bit of extra water this yr, and there are extra fish, too.”
Again on the shore, after their nets have been solid, the brothers discuss in regards to the sorts of fish they’ll catch within the Aral. Carp, pike perch, and asp are caught right here, amongst others. Nurzhan says that, within the late Eighties, flounder fry from the Sea of Azov had been launched into the Aral because it was drying. The fish unexpectedly thrived, apparently as a result of saltiness of the ocean — best situations for flounder. As soon as the dam was constructed and the water ranges rose, the salinity decreased and the flounder ultimately disappeared.
By the point we return to Tastubek, it is getting darkish. On the fishermen’s home, we eat boiled camel meat and settle in for a brief sleep. In summer time, it will get gentle early and you could return out to verify your nets earlier than dawn.
The alarm goes off at 3:30 a.m. The village is completely silent. Even the canine and birds are sleeping now; solely bats could be seen fluttering by means of the night time air seeking prey.
Nobody is actually awake, so we simply bump towards the ocean in silence within the brothers’ outdated UAZ.
Even after boarding the boats and setting off, it’s nonetheless dim once we attain the primary float – a plastic bottle, indicating the place the brothers’ web is. The primary web brings in 18 medium-sized carp.
The second web brings in ten carp and two bream.
“That is regular for summertime,” Serzhan says of the catch, although he sounds dissatisfied. Just a little additional away, one other boat is bobbing on the waves. It appears to be like as if this opponents’ catch isn’t very wealthy both.
Seagulls circle overhead, hoping to grab fish, however they do not threat coming shut; there are too many individuals within the boat. The brothers return the nets to the water and head again to shore.
One other day stretches forward for the brothers full of the same old issues of rural life: horses, camels and fixing the UAZ, which is having engine issues once more.
That is the third installment of a sequence of picture tales from the Syr Darya River and its tributaries. The waterway passes from the mountains of Kyrgyzstan by means of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and at last into the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. Photograph correspondent Petr Trotsenko from RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service adopted the size of the river to doc the way it sustains life in Central Asia and spoke to specialists in regards to the present state of this important waterway. The primary and second installments could be seen right here and right here.