Mimoza Dhima

Shkodra (Albania), 20 nov (EFE).-the Lake Shkodra, the largest in the Balkans and shared by Albania and Montenegro, is suffering a slow death caused by the contamination of industrial waste and others, including fecal, and waters as a result of the excesses of the sector of the construction during the last two decades.

Located west of the city in Albanian of Shkodra (North Albania), which gives it its name, the Lake has large concentrations of vegetation which are huge Islands and make it difficult for the navigation of the vessels.

On the coast there has formed a wide strip of abundant green algae that threaten fauna in this Lake from an area of 368 square kilometers, of which one third belongs to Albania.

“I fish in the Lake since 1978 and I have never seen such a bad situation,” he told Efe Mithat Galica, who with his wife, struggle daily with the mud and aquatic plants for your ship to get fish that are becoming more scarce.

“We go out to fish twice a day and instead of fish in the networks we have algae,” said Mithat, good days wins 10 euros from the sale of fish, which keeps his family.

Indicates that at the time of Communism had a State-owned fisheries which looked after the Lake, while today this natural wealth has become the forgotten.

The waters of the Lake have been withdrawn by the prolonged drought leaving ground bottles, shoes, furniture, toys, broken, thrown there for years, which had been joined sacs empty cement used in the new buildings in the surrounding area.

In this garbage dump flow into the drains of Shkodra, a city of 80,000 inhabitants, as well as toxic chemicals from an aluminum plant located in the capital of Montenegrin Podgorica, which pollute its waters and destroy flora and fauna.

“Before we fishing carp of 35 pounds, we are now satisfied if the hook catches one of few centimeters,” says Tonin Marashi, 60-year-old fan from a young age of the fishing.

The latest fashion of the fisheries of the place is to use a generator that transmits electrical current water which kills any living animal in the vicinity.

“These abusive cases are sporadic.” The situation has improved and the controls have been strengthened since the Lake was proclaimed protected area in 2005 “, says Ridvan Hebaj, head of the Directorate of forest service Shkodra.

Now, he says, there are 420 people with a fishing license and the number of illegal fishermen has decreased from 1,000 to 200, while this year complaints have been reduced to three, with 18 cases registered in 2010.

Nevertheless, the ecological disaster of Lake discourages more and more people to bathe and restaurants of la ribera, carp, fish the Lake symbol is a rarity.

But the specialists expect that the situation will soon change thanks to projects financed by the European Union and the World Bank.

Thus a project started on August 18 million euros donated by Germany, Austria and Switzerland rebuild channelling of Shkodra, network so fecal waste passing through a sewage treatment plant before reaching the Lake.

Next year will end up another project, the World Bank, amounting to $ 4.5 million, to develop common legislation and a joint strategy of management, supervision, and tourist promotion of the Lake by Albania and Montenegro.EFE

MD/jk/ll/pdp