Water levels have declined by nearly 50 percent in Dhi Qar province’s al-Hammar Marshes in recent years, leaving hundreds of fishermen without jobs.

Hammar, one of Iraq’s largest marshes, is a source of income for dozens of families living in the southern Iraqi province whose livelihoods have been dried up by years of drought.

“We do not know how to work any other jobs because this has been our profession for years,” Fayaq Amjad, a fisherman who has seen his neighbours forced to abandon their nets, told Rudaw. “There used to be hundreds of us. Now we are only a few.”

Amjad said that a lot of the fish died due to falling water levels and if the situation continues, he will have to move to another province.

The UN classifies Iraq as the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to the effects of climate change. Droughts are more frequent and longer. Water reserves have decreased by half since last year due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining river levels, according to the water ministry.