Casting blame

Mohsen Abdul Hai, an agriculture adviser to the governor of Basra province, blamed Iran both for stopping the Karoun's waters from reaching its mouth and for allowing the Abadan refinery to pollute the Shatt al-Arab.

"Fish are dying because of it, and it is also causing the death of large numbers of animals from blindness after drinking salt water," he said.

Asked how the problem might be solved, Hai said the province had appealed to Baghdad to intervene, asking ministers to press both Turkey and Iran to increase the flow of water to Iraq.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on a visit to Baghdad on 29 August that a meeting would soon be held to discuss the issue.

But to fishermen such as Fakhir Abdul Imam (45) whose small boat "Al-Safa" ? ironically meaning "Purity" in Arabic ? the time for talk is almost over.

"It is becoming impossible to fish in the Shatt al-Arab," said Imam, a short, portly married man with five children, who goes out fishing at dawn and spends three or four days at a time out on the water.

"Even the living fish we catch smell of oil. Agriculture in this area is almost finished."