Case Studies - Coastal Lagoons: Ecosystem Processes and Modeling for Sustainable Use and Development - page 419

9.4 VISTULA LAGOON (POLAND/RUSSIA):

A TRANSBOUNDARY MANAGEMENT PROBLEM
AND AN EXAMPLE OF MODELING
FOR DECISION MAKING

Eugeniusz Andrulewicz, Boris Chubarenko,
and Irina Chubarenko

9.4.1 T RANSBOUNDARY M ANAGEMENT P ROBLEMS

OF THE V ISTULA L AGOON

The Vistula Lagoon experiences higher anthropogenic loading per cubic meter than
other Baltic lagoons (e.g., the Odra or Couronian lagoons) due to its relatively small
water volume and the very poor treatment facilities in its catchment area. 1-3
Problems of transboundary environmental management are the subject of a
special international agreement. 4 Recently, the European Union (EU) established a
number of principles for planning and management actions. 5 HELCOM initiated the
Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Programme, 6 Element 4 of
which deals with the management of coastal lagoons and wetlands. 7
The Vistula Lagoon is one of the first areas in the Baltic region where genuine
steps in transboundary management have been attempted, including the implemen-
tation of modeling as a tool for decision making by both scientific institutions and
national environmental authorities. 8-10

9.4.1.1 The Vistula Lagoon and Its Catchment Area

The Vistula Lagoon is separated from the Gulf of Gdansk by a narrow spit about
60 km long with a width varying from a few hundred meters to a few kilometers.
The lagoon is connected to the Gulf of Gdansk by the narrow Baltijsk Strait (formerly
known as the Pillau Strait; see Figure 9.4.1) .
The Vistula Lagoon has a surface area of 838 km 2 . It is shallow, with an average
depth of 2.7 m. Its average salinity is low, in the range of 0.1-4.5 per mille (psu).
The water volume of the lagoon is 2.3 km 3 and the average retention time is about
40-50 days. About 56% of its total area is in Russia and 44% is in Poland. Water
exchange with the Baltic Sea is very intense and is synoptically variable. This,
combined with river inflows, results in considerable spatio-temporal variations in
the salinity field. The Vistula Lagoon is very productive as a fishing ground. Fresh-
water species predominate, together with a few brackish-water ones. The lagoon
serves as a filter for nutrients and contaminant excess from a large catchment area. 2
The drainage area includes 23,871 km 2 within Poland and Russia, which is about
30 times larger than the surface area of the lagoon ( Figure 9.4.2) . The largest river
in the drainage area is the Pregel. Of the more than 30 rivers in the region, the Pasleka
and Prohladnaya are also relatively large. The largest city in the Vistula Lagoon
drainage area is Kaliningrad, Russia, with a population of more than 470,000. It is
located just above the mouth of the Pregel River. Other cities within the drainage
area with populations exceeding 100,000 are Olsztyn and Elblag, both in Poland.