Nature

The Kvarken is now so dry that thousands of fish are flocking to the sea in search of a route to a traditional spawning stream

The Kvarken is now so dry that thousands of fish are flocking to the sea in search of a route to a traditional spawning stream

Dry bottom of creek.
When the ice leaves and the fish spawning begins, this creek babbles happily and the fish rise along it from the bay visible in the background towards the upper gorge. The stream is now dry.

World heritage guide Vesa Heinonen has been observing fish spawning in Kvarken for 25 years. There has been little water before, but never this dry.

Bodvattnet in Björköby, Ostrobothnia, in the Kvarken World Heritage Area, is a popular nature destination.

It is also one of the most important fish breeding grounds in the area during the ice-out period.

In spring, tens of thousands of perch, bass and pike rise from shallow, ice-formed bays to spawn in inland freshwater lakes, known as ‘gullies’.

Now, the creek’s slim and fish sparkle are not visible or heard, as the stream used by the fish spawning is so dry that the rise to the kluu will not succeed.

The Kvarken is now so dry that thousands of fish are flocking to the sea in search of a route to a traditional spawning stream Read More »