Egypt 'spent billions' to combat lake pollution, degradation: minister

Egypt has spent billions on cleaning polluted lakes where declining fish numbers have severely impacted fish farming, the country's agriculture minister said.

Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Al-Sayed El-Qosair said at the Saudi International Maritime Exhibition and Conference (SIMEC) in Riyadh that the work has had a “powerful” impact in Egypt, where fisheries have made a key contribution towards feeding the country's population, Arab News reported.

El-Qosair said Egypt had established a dedicated research centre hosting than 30 operating institutes, among other efforts to protect the country's agricultural sector.

The minister's remarks follow the publication of a recent study by the Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Life and Fisheries, which said Egypt's fish production had fallen sharply due to pollution, overfishing and habitat degradation.

Among the waterways affected is the 1,385-square km Lake Qarun, which is considered the country's freshwater lake. The lake's ecosystem has been ravaged by municipal sewage and agricultural wastewater, which has made the water uninhabitable for fish.