Egypt casts about for ways to protect fisheries from GERD effects

Egypt is concerned Addis Ababa’s controversial dam on the Blue Nile will harm its fish resources and is pursuing ambitious projects to protect the national resource.
A worker unloads iced freshly-caught fish off a fishing boat at a pier in the Egyptian town of Ezbet al-Borg along the Nile river delta's Damietta branch near the estuary into the Mediterranean sea, in the northern Governorate of Damietta, some 265 kilometres north of the Egyptian capital on October 22, 2019. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)
A worker unloads freshly caught fish off a fishing boat at a pier in the Egyptian town of Ezbet al-Borg along the Nile river delta's Damietta branch near the estuary into the Mediterranean sea, in the northern governorate of Damietta, Oct. 22, 2019. - KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Rasha Mahmoud
@R_ma7moud200

Water scarcity is not the only danger Egypt fears from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Egypt and Sudan are both concerned the GERD will undermine their agricultural sector and affect their food security. The African Union-sponsored talks on the GERD were suspended earlier this month.

A study published in July by the Egyptian Institute of National Planning indicated that 12 fish species endemic to the Nile River, lakes and fish farms in Egypt could become scarce or even extinct due to the GERD.

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