Thursday, April 08, 2010

The Drying of the Aral Sea

Stranded Trawlers of the Aral Sea

Last week the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the drying of the Aral Sea was one of the world's most shocking disasters. The Aral Sea used to be the world's fourth largest lake but the diversion of the rivers that once fed the lake by Russia has caused the lake to shrink by 90%.

One of the consequences of the lake's dwindling size has been the death of the fishing industry on the lake and fishing trawlers have been left stranded in what are now sandy wastelands. Mibazaar has put together this Google Maps mashup to take you on a tour of some of the stranded trawlers that once fished these waters.

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