In the 80s of the last century, life was in the key in Uchsoy village of Muynak district of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. Ships delivered tons of fish in the seaport.

 

– But the current generation does not believe this, – began his story the elder Adiljan Bigeldiyev from Uchsoy village, who had been fishing for over forty years. – In the mid-70s, there were almost 20 vessels in the port, thousands of people were engaged in fishing. We were engaged in catching perch, sturgeon, catfish. We delivered up to 50 tons of fish every day from each ship.

 

In those days, we did not know what fatigue meant. In the evening we delivered the fish and again went to the sea. Muynak guys were strong, agile. Most of the guys called up for military service were attracted to the navy service.

 

I could lift fish weighing up to 120-140 kilograms. There was so much sturgeon in the sea, but, unfortunately, then we did not appreciate it. The caviar of this fish, which today is considered expensive in the best restaurants of the world, was simply thrown into the garbage. Almost all the food was cooked on sturgeon fat.

 

Sturgeon, as a rule, lived in the middle of the sea. Sometimes at night we even got off course. Once there was a thick fog, and our compass got broken. Suddenly, a warship appeared near us. They fixed our compass and advised the best way. Later we learned that, having lost the course, we approached the Renaissance island, a territory that was considered secret at that time.

 

There had always been a lot of orders for sturgeon. In 1975, thousands of sturgeon were thrown ashore. People were surprised – they had never seen such a phenomenon! And then the elders said: “Oh, we lost our sea. Sturgeon on the shore is a bad sign”.

 

At that time, a large diaspora of the Ural Cossacks lived in Muynak. After a sturgeon release, they left here. Now I think the Cossacks anticipated the future fate of the sea.

 

After some time, we began to observe a decrease in the water level and a drying up of the sea. The degree of salinity of the water began to increase, the sturgeon disappeared. We began to breed saltwater resistant flatfish. Until 1992, we were engaged in fishing. Flatfish was the last type of fish we caught.

 

The sturgeon, called Tsar-fish among people, was mainly spread in the Black, Azov, Caspian and Aral seas, as well as adapted to the climatic conditions of Lake Balkhash.

 

In Wikipedia, it is noted that sturgeons are long-lived, late maturing fishes. Their average lifespan is 50 to 60 years, and their first spawn does not occur until they are around 15 to 20 years old. A single female may release 100,000 to 3 million eggs but not all will be fertilized. During their first year of growth, they will reach 18 to 20 cm (7.1 to 7.9 in) in length and migrate back into the swift-flowing currents in the main stem river. Sturgeon range from subtropical to subarctic waters in North America and Eurasia. They occur along the European Atlantic coast, including the Mediterranean basin, in the rivers that flow into the Black, Azov, and Caspian Seas, the north-flowing rivers of Russia that feed the Arctic Ocean, in the rivers of Central Asia (Amu Darya and Syr Darya) and Lake Baikal.

 

In connection with construction of irrigation facilities on Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers, with the change of the Aral Sea ecology, the fish began to disappear. Currently, there are only a small number. Sturgeon is listed in the Red Book of Uzbekistan.

 

Uchsoy village is located 18 kilometers from the district center Muynak. Today, the once very busy port and fish factories are empty. Currently, gas is extracted from the bottom of the dried sea. Uchsoy village is changing within the framework of “Obod qishloq” (“Prosperous village”) program. The bulk of the population continues the work of their fathers – engaged in fishing on the nearby lakes.

 

People of Muynak were engaged in fish processing since 1890 for more than a century. A small industrial zone is formed on the site of the former Muynak cannery, which had a capacity of 21.5-22 million cans per year, modern enterprises are being built.

 

Nearly 200 ships in the Aral Sea, which employed more than two thousand people, remain only in memories.