By Saad Nazem in Basra //

For decades, sailors navigating Iraq’s territorial waters have regularly seen dolphins accompanying them on their journeys.

Aysar al-Bahar, a sea captain who has spent more than 40 years on the job, recalls how groups of dolphins approach vessels and swim alongside them, sometimes even for longer distances.

This still happens offshore, he says, but such encounters are rare inside the Shatt al-Arab.

The Shatt al-Arab runs around 200 kilometers from where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers converge, down to the Persian Gulf. Its mix of freshwater and tidal saltwater allows some ocean-going species to swim further inland. However no one has monitored how many dolphins swim in or how long they stay.

Dhafera Toamma, head of the Basra Environment Directorate, which operates under Iraq’s Ministry of Environment and monitors pollution and enforces environmental regulations, says the dolphins that have been spotted in the estuary are usually Indian Ocean humpback dolphins.

These are found around coastal areas and estuaries. The dolphins’ appearance in the Shatt al-Arab is not seasonal but depends on a wide variety of factors, Toamma explains, including availability of food and water quality. So one might see them here during moderate weather and when there are a lot of fish around, she suggests.

Toamma confirms that there isn’t much monitoring of dolphins done and explains that, in fact, a lot of local environmental monitors’ knowledge of the dolphins comes from accounts given to them by sailors and fishermen.

There’s no official confirmation of any permanent dolphin presence inside the Shatt al-Arab, says Omar Abdul Latif, a member of the Green Iraq Observatory. He thinks it’s most likely that dolphins enter the waterway via the Faw river and are carried further in by high tides from the Gulf.

Scientist and expert on water pollution, Jassim al-Maliki, says that without properly structured surveys it’s impossible to know whether the dolphin population has declined or whether it’s only about a lack of sightings and data.

Still, the experts are clear: The Shatt al-Arab’s ecosystem has undergone dramatic change. The river has suffered repeated spikes in salinity which are driven by reduced freshwater flows and the resulting advance of ocean water. This would not necessarily have an impact on the dolphins but could affect their food sources.

Maliki says any link between rising salinity and fewer dolphin sightings is likely indirect: Changes in water quality disrupts fish populations, which in turn affect dolphins’ feeding patterns. Overfishing, ship noise and entanglement in nets are other problems.

Pollution, industrial waste, oil residues, untreated sewage and heavy ship traffic also contribute to deteriorating conditions in the Iraqi waterway.

Hussein Abu Tabikh, head of the Marshlands Association in Basra, warns that, if its confirmed, a decline in dolphin sightings could signal deeper environmental distress, which includes shrinking fish stocks and increased industrial contamination.

Seven major canals in Basra empty wastewater and urban rubbish directly into the Shatt al-Arab. Industrial facilities, power stations and oil companies along the riverbanks don’t help either. With freshwater flows decreasing, the river’s ability to dilute pollutants and resist saltwater intrusion is weakening.

Environmental specialists argue that restoring fish populations and improving water quality require increasing freshwater flows, reducing salinity, treating wastewater and rehabilitating aquatic vegetation.

One local proposal includes building a dam to block saltwater intrusion. But Maliki warns that such a project must be studied carefully as it could alter water movement, residual flows and the migration of aquatic species like the dolphins.

Protecting the Shatt al-Arab properly requires a more holistic strategy, he argues, one that includes improving water flows, enforcing pollution laws, upgrading sewage and industrial treatment systems, and supporting further scientific research.

Seafarers like al-Bahar say that they still regularly see dolphins near the Shatt al-Arab and offshore although they agree with the experts — without regular monitoring and research it is not possible to say whether there are less dolphins around Iraq’s waterways.