Introduction
Objectives of the project
Partners, subcontractors, end-users
Vistula Lagoon
Results of the study and publications

Vistula Lagoon Workshop - Dec. 15th - 16th , 2003, Gdansk
Mantra East home page - Lake Peipsi study
Mid-term Review Meeting
Consortium Meeting in Dublin, August 16-17, 2003

Objectives of the project

Evaluation of criteria for assessment of ecological status in a Water Framework Directive context

• Collection of all available time series of water quality and biota parameters of the Vistula Lagoon and riverine loads necessary for ecological status assessment, trend analyses, and modeling.
• Collection of all available publications on water quality and biota of the Vistula Lagoon including Polish, Russian and old German publications and gray literature.
• Comparison of monitoring parameters evaluated for freshwater and brackish water bodies, used in ecological status assessments.
• Evaluation of criteria for assessment of ecological status of Vistula Lagoon in a WFD context.

Analysis of trends in water quality and biota in Vistula Lagoon

• Quality assurance of the Vistula Lagoon data collection methods (from 1950s to present time)
• Evaluation of long-term changes in chemical variables, nutrients and biotic parameters. The degree of changes of different parameters will be qualified and used as a measure of human impact.

A tool for the estimation of the transfer, retention, and losses of nutrients in Pasleka river basin (one of the main tributary to Vistula Lagoon)

• Estimation of nutrients load to the Vistula Lagoon on the basis of the Pasleka river as a pilot basin. A computer modeling system MIKE BASIN, now applied at Pasleka river, will be used. Staff members of environmental authorities will be trained to use MIKE BASIN.

The consequences of river basin inputs to lagoon water quality and fish - a modeling approach

• The 3D (Delft3D FLOW & WAQ) and 2D (Mike21 HD & WQ) water quality models for the Vistula Lagoon will be built up using the same data sets for years 1998 - 2000. Calibrated models will assess influence of the climatic conditions versus anthropogenic impact (different scenarios) on the selected water quality indicators. It will be determined where and when it is enough to use 2D model and where and when 3D model is necessary.
• Trophic interactions between phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish larvae will be assessed with use of bioenergetic budget calculations and 0-dimensional, dynamic model.
• The influence of the water quality and productivity on the fish stocks will be analyzed by means of multiple regression analysis.