Kosterhavet National Park
Encyclopedia
Kosterhavet National Park is the first national marine park
Marine park
A marine park is a park consisting of an area of sea sometimes protected for recreational use, but more often set aside to preserve a specific habitat and ensure the ecosystem is sustained for the organisms that exist there...

 of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and was inaugurated in September 2009. It is located in Strömstad
Strömstad Municipality
Strömstad Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Strömstad....

 and Tanum
Tanum Municipality
Tanum Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Tanumshede, with 1,600 inhabitants....

 municipalities in Bohuslän
Bohuslän
' is a Swedish traditional province, or landskap, situated in Götaland on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea to the west, and the county of Østfold in Norway to the north...

, Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. It consists of the sea and shores around the Koster Islands
Koster Islands
The Koster Islands situated 10km west of Strömstad, Sweden comprises an archipelago surrounding the two largest islands, South Koster and North Koster. South Koster has an area of 8 km² and North Koster an area of 4 km². The landscape, dominated by smooth bedrock, bears witness to volcanic activity...

, however excluding the islands themselves. To the north, it borders the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 marine park of Ytre Hvaler.

Nature

The environment is unique to Swedish waters. Over 6,000 marine species have been identified, about 200 of them not to be found elsewhere in Sweden. The Kosterfjord is 200 m (656.2 ft) deep with comparably low temperature – 5 to 7 °C (41 to 44.6 °F) – and high salinity
Salinity
Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...

 (about 35%). Brachiopod
Brachiopod
Brachiopods are a phylum of marine animals that have hard "valves" on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection...

, sponge and coral
Lophelia pertusa
Lophelia pertusa is a species of cold-water coral which grows in the deep waters throughout the North Atlantic ocean, as well as parts of the Caribbean Sea and Alboran Sea. L...

 larvae are brought in by currents from the Atlantic. Rare seabirds, such as arctic tern
Arctic Tern
The Arctic Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America...

s and skua
Skua
The skuas are a group of seabirds with about seven species forming the family Stercorariidae and the genus Stercorarius. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in North America....

s, along with a large population of harbour seals find their nesting grounds here. Plaice
Plaice
Plaice is the common name of four species of flatfishes.Plaice or PLAICE may also refer to:* USS Plaice , a Balao-class submarine* PLAICE, an open source hardware FLASH programmer, memory emulator, and logic analyzer...

, cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...

 and sea trout breed in the more shallow waters closer to the shore.

Professional fishing is allowed although special regulations apply. This is an important fishery for Pandalus borealis
Pandalus borealis
Pandalus borealis is a species of shrimp found in cold parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Many different common names are used, including pink shrimp, deepwater prawn, deep-sea prawn, great northern prawn, and northern shrimp.-Distribution:P...

 as well as the Norwegian lobster. Fishing is not subject to environmental protection but instead fishery laws and an agreement from 2000.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK