Historical State

The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest inland lake in the world, measuring 66,100 km² in 1963 (1, 6).  Before this time, it was home to about twenty species of native fish and fishing was a predominant industry, providing thousands of people with employment (8, 10). There were over 70 different species of mammals and 319 species of birds that lived in the deltas of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers (8). There were also vast expanses of tugay vegetation around the Aral Sea, over 100,000 hectares, where many of these species of birds and mammals made their habitats (8). There was also just the right amount salinity in the lake to support sufficient communities of zooplankton and plant communities (10).

A painting of the Aral Sea in 1877 (Source: http://www.karakalpak.com/stanaral.html)