Bałtyk Protection District

Details

Published on Monday, 14 November 2011 22:58

It constitutes a fragment of the Baltic Sea, which has been incorporated to the inland part of the Slovinski National Park, within the framework of the Baltic protected areas - HELCOM-BSPA on the basis of the ordinance of the Ministry Cabinet of March 2nd, 2004. It is situated between Łeba and Rowy (geographical longitude and latitude: 54º 40'20'' - 54º 47'44'' N, 17º 03'10'' - 17º 28'58'' E) with the width of 2 sea miles far into the sea, and its maximum depth is 20 meters. The length of the sea border in this district is 36,7 kms and the length of the coast-line is 33 kms. The entire area of this terrain is 11 171 hectares. Coastal waters adjoining the SNP have the status of territorial waters of the Republic of Poland.
On the predominant area of the coastal bottom, there exist sandy drifts, which in the zone from 3 to 5 metres in depth are intensively translocated as a result of work of currents and waving. By dint of these processes, this zone is defined as layers of the moving sand. Therefore, this district is characterised by strong dynamism of water, what favourably effects self-cleaning of this region but also generates the erosion of the coasts. The main contamination sources of this area are the in-flowing rivers of the Łeba and Łupawa, which carry considerable quantities of biogenes as well as the port in Łeba and the fishery port in Rowy. On the other hand, potential threats include: ship-wrecks lying on the bottom, although in this part of the coastal zone, they are not numerous compared, for example, to another part of the sea protected area - Puck Bay.
Outland translocation of introduced contaminations favourably influences the surface drifts of the sea bottom. It is justified by their good condition in almost entire water-region. They can be classified as poorly eutrophied, what is indicated by a low content of biogenic substances and organic matter in them.
The sort of bottom in the shallow-water of the mid part of the Baltic coastal zone is not advantageous for the development of the bottom flora, particularly for the rooted vascular plants considering existing layers of moving sand. In certain places, there appear rocks accumulations, stones as well as sand-gravel and gravel-sand drifts. Such beddings favour the attaching of macro-alga even at the considerable distance from the shore and they can be met in the region of Rowy.
Red seaweeds, which are unique species for the Polish coastal zone, exist here. They are: Furcellaria lumbricalis, Polysiphonia fucoides and Rhodomela confervoides, but also considerable quantities of filiform dulses of Ectocarpus and Pillayella kinds, indicating the process of eutrophy, as well as numerous concentrations of bottom fauna: mussel - Mytilus edulis trossulus, crustaceans from the family of Gammaridae, Crangonidae and Idotheidae, as well as the stations of oligochaeta characterised by great numbers Oligochaeta. The post popular sea species found in the sea part of the SNP are: cod - Gadus morhua, flounder - Platichtys flesus, plaice - Platesa platesa, shorthorn sculpin - Myxocephalus scorpius, sprat - Spratus spratus, herring - Clupea harengus ( spawning-time in the spring, from February to May), sand launce - Ammodytes tobianus, greater sandeel - Hyperoplus lanceolatus, turbot - Scopthalmus maximus, lumpfish - Cyclopterus lumpus, viviparous eelpout - Zoarces viviparus. Migratory fish are represented by salmon - Salmo salar, eel - Anguilla anguilla, bulltrout - Salmo trutta trutta and European smelt - Osemrus eperlanus.
However, the presence of sea protected species stands for the significance emphasising the natural quality of this part of the water-region: sand goby - Pomatoschistus minutus Pallas, common goby - Pomatoschistus microps Kroyer, snailfish - Liparis liparis, or twaite shad Alosa fallax.
The coastal zone of the Slovinski National Park is also visited by sea mammals, both pinnipedian: grey seal - Halichoerus grypus, ringed seal - Phoca hispida and harbour seal - Phoca vitulina, and cetaceans - harbour porpoise - Phocoena phocoena. One must add, that both seals and porpoises living in the Baltic are under strict species protection and are registered in the Red Book of animals endangered of extinction.