Shafaq News/ Fishermen in Iraq's southernmost port of al-Faw have to live in constant fear every time they set their sail for the distant sun.

Those fishermen must cruise cautiously every time they approach the maritime borders guarded by two of Iraq's erstwhile war-time foes, Iran and Kuwait.

Some say they often run into trouble with the Kuwaiti and Iranian navies that patrol maritime borders contested by Iraq and its neighbors.

About 15 kilometers from where the mighty Tigris and the Euphrates rivers merge and flow out to the Gulf, lies the fishing port of al-Faw.

The port town has been on the front line of two wars that have shaped Iraq's modern history; in the 1980s against Iran and then after Saddam Hussein's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

"Every now and then, Iran creates a fuss because we share the sea with them. The same applies to the Kuwaitis. Some of us were arrested and spent months under torture," a fisherman who preferred to remain anonymous told Shafaq News Agency.

"Iraqi fishermen do not enjoy any protection from their government. This makes it worse for them every time they have to deal with the Iranians or Kuwaitis," he continued.

Control of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a stretch of water between Iran and Iraq that passes Faw and opens out into the Gulf, was one of the main reasons for the costly and bitter war between the two countries that lasted through most of the 1980s.

Kuwait and Iraq have also yet to define a sea border in settlement talks since Iraq's 1990 invasion. Some at the docks say Iraqis are viewed with hostility by many Iranians and Kuwaitis still bitter over Iraq's wars against them.

"We have many species here: shrimps, Salmon, and pomfrets...we often sell them in the Fao," another fisherman said.

A single fishing expedition might last as long as a week before the fishermen head back to the shores.