The shallowing of the Caspian Sea is a dangerous environmental problem for many Eurasian countries
According to the Federal Agency for Fisheries, the Caspian Sea’s water level has dropped by nearly 2.4 meters since the mid-1990s. The coastline and aquatic bioresources are experiencing colossal external impacts. As a result, populations of entire species, including the Caspian seal, could disappear. The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. Over 130 rivers flow into it, the largest of which are the Volga, Ural, Terek, Sulak, and Samur. Five countries are located on the Caspian coastline: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Iran. In 2023, a local emergency was declared in the Aktau region of Kazakhstan due to the rapid shallowing of the Caspian Sea, caused by a decrease in river inflow. This created problems for the local port and fishermen.
Dagestan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan announced an environmental disaster in the Caspian Sea
The water level in the Caspian Sea is rapidly decreasing; since 1996, the water level in the Caspian Sea has dropped by almost three meters. Fishing is rapidly declining, ships cannot enter the port due to shallowing. Some scientists call the situation with the Caspian shallowing catastrophic. The water level has dropped so much that shipping in the port of Makhachkala is increasingly stopped after a storm. And these days the ships are in the roadstead near Makhachkala because they cannot enter the port – the canals are covered with sand.