An overview on lagoons in the Polish coastal area of the Baltic Sea

Coastal lagoons in Poland arebiologically diverse and very productive areas, andhave a high economic importance as waterways, astourist resorts and through fisheries. On the otherhand, they remain under strong antrophogenic pressuredue to the high load of nutrients from agriculture,discharge of large amounts of municipal sewage andindustrial wastes. Three important Polish lagoons,namely the Odra/Szczecin, the Vistula, the PuckLagoons, are briefly described and environmentalproblems to be considered for sustainable managementare discussed.