According to the
newspaper "Asia-Plus", low water
level in the Syr Darya River has led
to the fish not being able to
produce offspring, including in some parts
of the Kayrokum reservoir in
northern Tajikistan. According to
the chief
specialist at Sogd regional
Environmental Protection
administration - Gafurdzhon
Karimov, "because of the low
water level in the river, the
fundamental niches of fish were
destroyed, in other words the fish
didn't have a suitable place to lay
eggs, because their habitual
locations for egg-deposition were dry in this season.
Approximately 50% of fish have been
unable to lay eggs due to this fact.
The damage from this hardship is
impossible to calculate, but
generally speaking, if a fish
produces about 10 thousand eggs per
season, 3-4 thousands of those would
have survived," - said the
specialist.
Image:
The Kayrakum water reservoir (GoogleEarth),
in some parts the fish is unable to
lay eggs due to low level of water
In addition, he
said, that changing the hydrological
regime in Kayrakkum reservoir causes
the damage of fish eggs in its upper
part (where catfish has postponed
its offspring production), because
the salinity of the reservoir has
increased. "In addition to a this,
the agricultural drainage from
cotton fields (chemical fertilizers)
impose additional stress on the fish
- said G. Karimov. Moreover, large
and small livestock is feeding along
the banks of the reservoir. As
already reported by Fergana.ru, this
year's low water levels threatens
several regions of Central Asia.
Many reservoirs in Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan, from which the stocks drink
water in hot summer months, as well as are
used for irrigation purposes, are
now virtually empty. The Syr Darya
outflow, according to official
hydrological data, is now almost ten
times less than in past years.
Kyrgyzstan
Hydropower facilities
reported shortages of water in
Toktogulskom Reservoir. The
accumulated amount of water for the
entire "growing" season this year is
projected to be more about 7 billion
cubic meters - against 10.5 billion
of April 1 last year. With the acute
shortage of irrigation water,
farmers are facing a lot of
challenges (especially Jizzak region
of Uzbekistan). In some areas,
farmers received only half of
(water) what is needed to irrigate
their lands, herein, causing
significant loss of crop.