Vanishing wildlife at Egypt’s Lake Qarun force fishermen to abandon trade

The Egyptian government believes that it should be given credit for its work to clean up the country's lakes.El-Raghy said the Lake Qarun project began in 2018 and has run for about six years, aiming to limit deterioration and restore the lake’s natural capacity to support aquatic life. Phase one included dredging the Bahr Youssef canal – which carries Nile water to Fayoum agriculture before discharging into Qarun – to ensure unobstructed flow and maintain suitable lake levels.The project also incorporates sewage infrastructure, including eight sewage treatment stations for villages around the lake, as well as rehabilitation of a treatment plant at the previously mentioned Kom Oshim complex, with a capacity of 19,000 cubic metres per day.Funding, el-Raghy said, includes a 300 million euro ($361.2m) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and 100 million euros ($120.4m) from various government bodies within the restoration committee.He identified industrial discharge and sewage as the main sources of pollution, saying the Kom Oshim industrial complex had previously discharged waste into a treatment plant not designed to handle industrial effluent.The Ministry of Environment, he said, worked with 13 factories to cut pollution loads by half, and the upgrade of the main Kom Oshim treatment plant is now 65 percent complete, with full operation - which would end the discharge of untreated waste into the lake - expected in the second half of 2026.As part of restoring ecological balance, the government cleanup project has introduced new fish stocks, including mother sole fish in 2022 and shrimp fry during the 2024–2025 seasons.El-Raghy said the isotope parasite that had been one of the main reasons for the drop in fish numbers cannot be eradicated, and that the current strategy is to prevent its hosts from returning. “Mullet and tilapia will not be reintroduced,” he said, referring to two fish that are hosts to the parasite. But, he added, “shrimp production increased, and sole reproduced inside the lake. This is a strong indicator of improvement.”In late 2024, the Ministry of Environment announced the reopening of Lake Qarun to fishing after years of partial or full closure.But, as the lack of activity testifies, the issues that put a stop to fishing here have not been fully resolved, even if the sight of flamingoes has led outsiders to be optimistic.If anything, the debate over flamingos remains secondary to daily survival. People here are still waiting for the lake restoration to mean clean water, living fish, and the provision of livelihoods with which they can again sustain their families.El-Raghy asked for patience, saying that fishermen needed "time to adapt", as "the composition of fish stocks and ... fishing techniques are changing".But for the fishermen of Lake Qarun, patience is a luxury they do not have.Yasser Eid is one of them. Like most men here, fishing has shaped Yasser’s life since childhood. Now about 40 years old, he said he first went out on the lake at the age of seven, dropping out of school at a time when fishing promised steady income and a future for entire families.Sitting on the shore of Lake Qarun in Shakshouk with his father and a friend, Yasser looked out at the water wistfully.The promise of a good livelihood from fishing has now collapsed. Fish stocks are gone, and the small catches available do not support a living.Several of Yasser’s brothers and two of his children now work far away, hundreds of kilometres south at Lake Nasser in Aswan, one of the few places where fishing remains viable.Those who stayed behind, he added, are struggling under mounting financial pressure, waiting for a recovery that has yet to materialise.“There are no fish,” Yasser said quietly, gesturing towards the lake. “The lake is still dead.”