Photography

Before the Canal

A Chinese company wants to dredge an 800-foot canal through Nicaragua. Here's what they stand to lose.

Brian Josue, 10, waits for a fishing boat on the eastern shore of Lake Nicaragua, near the town of San Miguelito. The Nicaragua canal will cut through the lake, the largest in Central America, risking saltwater contamination of the fragile ecosystem. (Photo: Ivan Kashinsky)

Fisherman sell their catch in San Miguelito, just north of where the canal will cut through Lake Nicaragua. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky

Franklin Briceño, an environmental lawyer, who is against the way his government is giving the Chinese company so much freedom in the construction of the Canal Interoceánico, stands by Lake Nicaragua in San Miguelito, Nicaragua. He believe that Nicaraguans are beggars sitting on a chest of gold, and they should learn how take advantage of their own natural resources instead of letting other countries take advantage of them. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky — Franklin Briceño, an environmental lawyer, who is against the way his government is giving the Chinese company so much freedom in the construction of the Canal Interoceánico, stands by Lake Nicaragua in San Miguelito, Nicaragua. He believe that Nicaraguans are beggars sitting on a chest of gold, and they should learn how take advantage of their own natural resources instead of letting other countries take advantage of them.

Lake Nicaragua’s Ometepe Island, which was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 2010, boasts a variety of crops, including plantains and rice, as well as birds like the Three-wattled Bellbird and Yellow-naped Parrot. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky

Boys from the town of Los Cocos, on the western side of Lake Nicaragua, play baseball on Playa la Virgen, which will be destroyed by the canal. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky

One of Ometepe Island’s two volcanoes, Concepción, rises up behind a Great Egret wading in Lake Nicaragua. Pollution from the canal, including oil spills or saltwater intrusion, could harm a range of aquatic creatures, including freshwater tarpon and sawfish. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky

Pastor Eduardo Cortez at home with his grandsons and mother in Tola, Nicaragua, not far from where the canal will connect to the Pacific Ocean. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky

Karla Rivera and Sergio Marenco in the lagoon at Boca de Brito, a spot they visit regularly to fish and relax; site of the Pacific entrance to the canal, it will be closed to the public once construction begins. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky

The Cantillano family lives in Santa Domingo Piche, and could be displaced by the new canal. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky

Men fish off a dock in San Miguelito, where the canal will enter Lake Nicaragua on its eastern shore. Photo: Ivan Kashinsky

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