Gdańsk Bay
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Gdańsk Bay Zatoka Gdańska |
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|---|---|
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| ocean | Atlantic Ocean |
| location | Poland , Russia |
| Cities on the shore | Danzig , Gdynia , Sopot , Puck , Rewa Jastarnia , Hel |
| Data | |
| Maximum depth | 118 m |
| Middle deep | 50 m |
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Coordinates: 54 ° 39 ′ 0 ″ N , 19 ° 9 ′ 0 ″ E
The Gdańsk Bay ( Polish: Zatoka Gdańska ) is an approximately semicircular bay in the Baltic Sea , largely open to the northeast , into which the Vistula flows near Gdańsk . It is bordered in the east by the steep coast of the Samland and in the south by the Fresh Spit . In the northwest are the Hel peninsula (Putziger Spit), which separates part of the Gdańsk Bay from the open Baltic Sea, and the Pomerellen hill country . Big cities on the bay are Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot . The Gdańsk Bay forms an ideal natural harbor , the water depth is between six and one hundred meters. The north-eastern part of the Gdańsk Bay is the Putziger Bay . Southeast closes the by refining Spit from the bay almost completely separate Fresh Haff on.
Ecological aspects
Bird migration
The Gdańsk Bay and especially the Vistula estuary with their many different biotopes ( spits , small sea bays, sand dunes , ponds , reed beds , salt marshes and salt marshes ) are important bird migration, wintering and breeding areas, and depending on the season, there are many rare ones Bird species. There are huge cormorant colonies on the Fresh Spit . Among the resting migratory birds are wheatear , whinchat , red-backed killer , tree pipit and pied flycatcher as well as the rarer red-throated pipit , ortolan , carminer , yellow-necked mocker , wilt neck and lemon wagtail . Bearded tit and bag tit can be found in the reeds . Limikolen rested by the hundreds on the algae-covered banks; the most common are the Alps , Temminck- , sickle and dwarf beach runners , Sanderling , Ruff , Greenshank , Bar-tailed Godwit , Curlew , Whimbrel , Collared Pratincole , gold , Kiebitz- and ringed plover . Among the different species of gulls and terns are represented, among others, the little gull and the black-headed gull . Many species of Scandinavian divers and sea ducks overwinter in Gdańsk Bay; some of them, such as red-throated , black-throated and horned grebes , are already present in September.
environmental issues
Especially in the second half of the 20th century, the Gdańsk Bay suffered severe ecological damage. One reason was the rapid intensification of port operations, shipyards and industry in the Gdańsk / Gdynia area. A second was the untreated sewage carried into the bay in large quantities by the Vistula , salinated sewage from the coal mines of Upper Silesia , toxic industrial waste, fertilizers and pesticides and liquid manure . A map from 1982 identified the Gdańsk Bay with the Gdańsk / Gdynia area as one of three eco-disaster areas in Poland (the other two were the Upper Silesian industrial area and the Liegnitz - Glogau copper district). In 1988 the environmental protection organization Greenpeace reported that practically all animal and vegetable life in the Gdańsk Bay had died due to water pollution . The water contamination was so serious that bathing had already been banned and the seaside resort of Sopot experienced a decline as a result. In the meantime, the water quality has improved significantly, so that unrestricted bathing is possible again in the summer months.
history
The Second World War began in Gdansk Bay on September 1, 1939 when the German liner Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Westerplatte near Gdansk in the early hours of the morning .
About 7 km north of Gdynia in the Gdańsk Bay, the German Air Force operated the Hexengrund torpedo test facility from 1942 to 1945 . After the Second World War, a new torpedo facility ("Formoza") was built about 6 km further south near the naval port of Gdynia and the old facility was left to decay.
As a result of the displacement , the region lost the German population that had lived on the shores of the Gdańsk Bay for centuries.
In the Gdańsk Bay, especially around the tip of the Hel peninsula, there are numerous wrecks lying on the bottom, all in water depths between five and seventy meters. Many come from the first or last weeks of World War II. Wreck diving is a popular activity there.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Greenpeace: Danzig Bay is dead: polluted with sewage and industrial waste. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . No. 153, July 4, 1988, p. 9.
- ↑ polen-neu.de: Around the Bay of Danzig ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
literature
- Egbert Kieser: Danziger Bucht 1945. Documentation of a catastrophe. Heyne, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-4530-1885-0
- Doris Kremser (ed.): The pollution of the Gdańsk Bay - a European problem of global importance: Text collection for the conference "Concepts, procedures and implementation options for future-oriented water pollution control using the example of the Gdańsk Bay and the associated coastal area". Gdynia, 4th - 15th March 1991, ISBN 978-3-814-20417-8
