Topic: PHOTOS: Dried-up Aral Sea Aftermath

[sam]

Cows sit in the shade of grounded ships on the bottom of what was once the Sary Shaganak Gulf in the Aral Sea, in a photo taken in August of 2005.

In the 1960s, Aral Sea fishing was big business--ships like these brought in 40,000 tons of fish a year.  But as the sea dried up the ships could not get to their harbors, and the fish had to be transported to processing plants via deep canals and eventually by helicopter.  As the salinity of the water increased, fish began to die, and most fishermen moved to other, more profitable regions.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/photogalleries/100402-aral-sea-pictures/#aral-sea-ships-grounded-cows_16959_600x450.jpg

WOW!

[Simon]

Crikey!

[sam]

you'll never moan about a hosepipe ban again!

[Simon]

I remember standpipes in the summer of '76! 

[Clive]

You were still in nappies!     Great photo! 

[Rik]

I remember standpipes in the summer of '76! 

So do I. I do wonder why they didn't get the boats out in time, though.

[Simon]

[Clive]

I bought a lawn sprinkler that year!  Never used it since! 

[Rik]

Same here - we went to metering shortly afterwards and we found out how much it cost.