Lake Butrint
Ramsar site; southern end of the national park of Butrint
The Butrintsee (Albanian: Liqeni i Butrintit ) is a salt water lagoon in southern Albania on the coast of the Ionian Sea. The lake lies southeast of Saranda at the ancient site of Butrint in Saranda district, an area of approximately 16.3 square kilometers, an average depth of 14 meters, which reaches a maximum of 21 meters. [Note 1] It is 7.1 km long and up to 3.3 kilometers wide. The salinity of the water varies with the tides.
At the south end of the lagoon over the two and a half kilometers long Vivar channel is connected to the sea. The lake and the surrounding area were formed during the Quaternary. Even 3000 years ago the area was a sea bay. The marshland south of the natural channel has long been flooded by the sea and was gradually filled up by deposits of the rivers Bistrica and Pavlla. Around the year 100, the level was already so far trained that Romans settled there.
The long lake is north of the canal by a narrow tongue of land, consisting of a long, up to 240 m above sea level. A. high range of hills, separated from the sea. On the east bank forming the foothills of the 695 meter high Mali i Miles. The lagoon was fed up in 1958 by coming out of the mountains river Bistrica. The watercourse but was diverted shortly before flowing into the north end of the lake through the artificial CuKa channel directly into the sea. It is a permanently stratified lake with an oxygen-free, inanimate hypolimnion, while the upper layer of approximately 8 m depth is rich in oxygen.
The lake is surrounded especially at the north and at the south end of vast wetlands, which also wholly temporarily under water. Reet areas characterize the shore and also clean the inflowing water. They are home to different moorhen, the Water Rail, various warblers, for example, the great reed warbler, and the bittern. In contrast to the salt water marsh and sea between the southern end is at the wetlands at the north end to freshwater marsh.
Another small lake located southeast of Butrintsees. The Bufisee ( Liqeni i Bufit, sometimes Rreza ) is about two miles long, an average of one meter deep and has the shape of a pointed triangle. At its eastern shore and the northern end the landscape changes in light hills on the western slopes of the Mali i Miles. Until the 1960s it contained brackish water. During the Bufisee was formerly connected at its southwest end to the Butrintsee, the permanent connection is a channel further north today. The water has since been more salty. In the area between the lakes is mostly to wetlands that are temporarily flooded. The 81 meter high Kalivo Hill - used as a settlement since the Bronze Age and fixed in the 6th century BC, with a 1300 meter long wall - rises from the swamp area between the lakes.
The Butrintsee and the surrounding wetlands are protected by the Ramsar Convention. The southern end is part of the Butrint National Park. The Butrintsee and its environment is the habitat of endangered species 14; so many birds (246 ), reptiles ( 25) and amphibian species ( 10) were found nowhere else in Albania. In addition, 105 fish species and 39 mammal species were detected. Only around the Butrintsee of Epirus Water Frog ( Rana epeirotica ), the marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata ), the Western sand boa ( Eryx jaculus ) and the Tauride lizard ( Podarcis taurica jonica ) are located within Albania. Lake and the surrounding area are also an important resting place for migratory birds such as grebes, little grebes, Common Goldeneye, Coot and Pochard. Even rare marine species such as the endangered loggerhead sea turtle [Note 2] and the highly endangered Mediterranean monk seal [Note 3], the risk of small freshwater fish Valencia letourneuxi and raptors such as Hen Harrier and Marsh Harrier are respectively found around the lake.
Inadequate supply of fresh water had lack of oxygen in the water of Butrintsees result, which is also toxic gases dissolved from the muddy Seeuntergrund. To stop this process, which endangers the balance and fauna in the lake, the flow of fresh water of the lake was raised through various measures. It could already be detected improve water quality.
In the lake (Mytilus galloprovincialis ) have been bred since 1968 mussels, which in the meantime had 250 people working. The production varies between 2000 and 7000 kilograms per year.