These men once relied on the Aral Sea. Today, the dry land is a reminder of lost livelihoods

Brushing the dust from his hat and lying on the floor inside his home, Ali Shadilov recalls how he and other fishermen used to laugh at town elders who warned that the enormous sea they relied on was disappearing. “Everyone laughed and said that it would take several million years,” said Shadilov, 73, one of the last surviving former fishermen of the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea was once the world's fourth-largest inland body of water, with some 68,000 square kilometers (26,300 square miles).