Human influence on marine areas: examples of the Lagoon of Venice and the Bay of Liminganlahti

1. Human influence on marine areas:examples of the Lagoon of Venice and the Bay of Liminganlahti Comenius project “Lagoons” wetland areas: Liminganlahti Bay wetland areas: Barene nella Laguna di Venezia

2. Project groups Bay of Liminganlahti • The uplift phenomenon • Agriculture • Birdwatching • Different types of biotopes of the Liminganlahti Bay • How and why is the area protected? • Flora and fauna

3. The uplift phenomenon • One third of Liminganlahti bay is less than one metre deep. • The mean depth is only 2,6 m, and the deepest point is 8,4 m . • Liminganlahti and a great part of its catchment area are located on the siltstones of the Muhos formation which are covered by postglacial sediment.

4. The uplift phenomenon • The uplift of the land in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia is a world-widely unique phenomenon: the ice sheet made a deep dent on the bedrock. • After the ice had melted, the dent started to rise slowly. At the bottom of Liminganlahti the land rises 0,82, at the mouth 0,92 centimetres per year. • Decomposing is helped by the vegetation, which is made euthrophic by nutrients in ditching and waste waters.

5. The uplift phenomenon • In less than a hundred years the coast-line has moved 1,5 kilometres, after 500 years it will be at the level of the islands in the mouth of the bay. • Then only remnants of Liminganlahti will be left. • Changes in the landscape will be noticed as early as in a couple of decades.

6. The uplift phenomenon The map shows the movement of the coast during the centuries. Every point indicates where the sea level arrived in the past and shows the position of the coast and how it has changed since then.

7. The uplift phenomenon In the future the Limingalahti bay will be enclosed like an internal lake (the blue part in the picture) and within 500 years Hailouto will be united to the coast. The borderline shows how the coast will be in 100, 200, 500 years. • In the 16 th century, the island of Hailuoto was divided into three small islands. Nowadays they are united thanks to the uplift phenomenon.

8. Agriculture Niina, Maija, Giovanni, Marco

9. The agricultural region of Liminka • In the Oulu region agriculture is very important and wide-spread in all the country, more than in the other places of the North Finland. • There are 182 farms in Liminka • The Oulu Region produces 350 million kilograms of EU-approved potatoes • Lumian Ky, the worlds northernmost snail farm, is situated in Lumijoki • Tyrnävä is one of EU's five high-grade cultivation areas • Tyrnävä has the largest continuous stretch of cultivated land in Finland • Muhos is the leading milk producer in the region • 30000 ha are forests in Liminka

10. Changes in coastal environment caused by agriculture • The shores of the Liminganlahti LIFE project area have been shaped by traditional agriculture for centuries. Due to the structural change in agriculture, mowing on the shores decreased and the number of the pastures has become less since the 1950’s. • The shore meadows were very important for haymaking and pasturing in the past but their use has decreased recently. Only 35 hectares were cut in 1991 and 83 ha used as pasture. The result is that the meadows have been overgrown by reeds.The landscape of the shores started to change rapidly while reedbeds and coppices gained land from the former low-growing meadows.

11. Other environmental problems • Clearing of the shores for fields and drying of the meadows have altered natural habitats. • Rivers have carried a large amount of loose soil into Liminganlahti bay due the extensive ditching of fields, marshes and forests in the catchment basin and the bay itself has shallowed. • The nutrients also carried by rivers have caused eutrophication and luxuriant vegetation. • Changes of habitats have impaired the chances of many bird and plant species to survive in the area.

12. Nature protection • Because of the EU-regulations all the farms in Liminganlahti area must have a plan as to how they are going to take care of the environment. The farmers’ participation in this water protection program is voluntary.

13. Animals • Cattle(cows), sheep and pigs are reared in Liminka • The problems caused by animals in this area are due to bad manure pits (lantala). This dung (manure) is then spread onto the fields in the autumn and the rains then washes it into the waterways. • The number of milking cows has decreased with 25 %

14. Hunting problem • Nature protection and other modes of land use of this area have raised discussion among local people and hopes and thoughts on how this area should be used have varied considerably. Waterfowl hunters have wanted to continue their hobby, while nature protection organizations have demanded the protection of the whole area. Hunting and fishing, along with agriculture, are traditional land use modes in the area. Waterfowl hunting in its present form has been practised in the area for some ten years. During this time the number of hunters have increased and the focus of hunting has been transferred from surrounding fields to shores and water areas which used to be peaceful for birds. Intense hunting has caused problems for game birds and migrating congregative birds through the increased waterfowl bag and disturbance.

15. Birdwatching!!! Tejia, Anna, Giulio, Irene, Alessandro.

16. What is BirdLife Finland? • BirdLife Finland is an organisation of 30 Finnish bird societies. It aims to promote bird watching, bird research and protection of birds, their habitats and biological diversity. • BirdLife Finland is a partner of BirdLife International, a world-wide organisation of over 2,5 million individual members operating in over one hundred countries. • The European Union classifies BirdLife International among the most remarkable and reliable experts in environmental issues.

17. Liminganlahti LIFE: protection of bird populations • The bay of Liminganlahti and the island of Hailuoto are very important breeding and staging areas for ducks, swans, geese and waders. • 31 existing species are mentioned in the Birds Directive Annex I • Over 100 bird species are breeding in the project area • 30000-40000 resting ducks and waders at the same time in spring and autumn • 25000 Bean Geese in April and May • 2000 Whooper Swans in spring and 2000-3000 in autumn • 1000 Common Cranes in spring and summer • 25-50 Lesser White-fronted Geese in May The bean goose

18. The Spotted Redshank The Pintail Lekking Ruffs

19. Liminganlahti centre • Liminganlahti nature centre is located in the beach of Virkkula, there is a café, a restaurant, rooms for meetings, exibitions and accomodations for thirty people. • Nature trail leads to the birds watching tower.

20. Birdwatching towers • There are four birdwatching towers and a WWF information centre • About 10,000 people a year visit there to see the birds of Liminganlahti

21. Sources: • http://www.vyh.fi/eng/environ/project/lifeppo/limlahti/birds.htm • http://www.bird_life.fi/eng/introduction.htm • Liminganlahti (Pohjoinen, 1993)

22. Biotopes of Liminganlahti Bay Lasse, Joni, Jaakko and Marco

23. Different kinds of vegetation zones are typical of the Bay of Liminganlahti. Vegetation zones originate because of the uplift of the land and they change according to the wetness of the soil. Because the land uplifts constantly, vegetation zones are changing all the time.

24. Biotypes

25. Shore meadows • This is how the zone looks like after the first phase of the land uplift has taken place.

26. A coastal meadow • Some time has passed and vegetation zone has turned into a coastal meadow.

27. A meadow with willow bushes • In the next phase willow bushes have grown in to the meadow.

28. Birch forest • Includes for example birches, pine, alders and spruce.

29. How and why is the area being protected? Federica, Maria, Giorgia, Carlo and Heidi

30. Protected areas The bay of Liminganlahti and southern parts of Hailuoto island are internationally important wetlands.

31. Why is the area of Liminganlahti being protected? • Many threathened plants grow in the Liminganlahti area. • Flora is valuable including northern and southern and endemic baltic species. • This area is one of the most highly rated bird waters in Finland and many bird species are threathened. • Liminganlahti is an important breeding area for many bird species and one of the most important resting areas in Finland.

32. Nature protection and other modes of land use The work to protect the most valuable bird waters started in Finland during the late 1970’s. Hunting and fishing, along with agriculture, are traditional land use modes in the area. Waterfowl hunting in its present form has been practised in the area for some ten years. Intense hunting has caused problems for game birds and migrating congregative birds through the increased waterfowl bag and disturbance. Each workgroup was composed of the representatives of the municipalities of the area, local landowners and hunting, fishing and nature conservation organisations.

33. How is the area being protected? • There are hunting restrictions areas which guarantee undisturbed life for birds throughout the year. • Waterfowl hunting has been restricted. • Pasturing and mowing are suitable management measures on shore meadows. • Decreasing of the number of ditches and canals. • Coppicing of willow bushes on the costals meadows were done. • Special management action were done on the existing areas of vulnerable plants and birds. • Restrictions areas and proposals concerning recreation and passage are presented in the plan.

34. FLORA & FAUNA Laura Kalaoja, Maria Beatrice Scilla, Toni Matkaselkä, Alessandro Santomaso

35. FLORA The vegetation on the shores of Liminganlahti is zonal because different species of plants favour different environmental factors. The uplift makes the zones misty because the vegetation varies constantly. • The salt patches, nearly without plants, are one of the specialities of Liminganlahti’s vegetation. On nearly neutral (pH 6-7) salt patches glasswort, Puccinellia retroflexa and Triglochin maritima are typical plants.

36. Carex Salina is one of the main species of the wide meadows on Liminganlahti. Primula nutans • Bothnian hair grass and Bothnian eyebright, are the endemic species of the Gulf of Bothnia. beedbeds • On Liminganlahti Common Reed is the most important plant that cultivates the soil. The most of reeds grow on the shore meadows. Common Reed

37. FAUNA • Elks are often seen on the shore meadows of Liminganlahti and roues or their tracks are seen regularly. • The both species of the seals of the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, ringed and gray seal have become alarmingly rare because of environmental poisons. Elk

38. There are also foxes, minks and raccoon dogs, who both can do great damage by robbing the nests of the birds. Common otters have been seen a few times on the lower course of the rivers. Raccoon dog Fox

39. On the shore meadows live a large number of mountain hares and also some brown hares. According to hunting statistics the mountain hare is ten times as common as the brown hare. Muskrat, short-tailed mole and common shrew are the most common small mammals of the bay. There are also many kind of smaller mammals, like many different kind of mouses. (a typical Finnish hobby: a man hunting a mouse )

40. Moor frog gets enough nutriment of the large amount of insects of the bay. You can see also the midsummer dance of chironomids, one kind of mosquitoes

41. The Project Group