Proposed Canal
Digging a canal to connect the lagoon with the Baltic Sea is in consideration as a major EU-supported project. The canal, 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) in length, would re-activate the Elbląg port. It would also free its dependence on Russia, which time and again revokes the right of passage for Polish ships through Strait of Baltiysk as a form of pressure on Polish authorities. It would cost an estimated PLN 80 million. However, major ecological considerations stand in the way. For example, mammal migration along the lagoon could be disrupted. Also, the inflow of brackish waters from the Baltic sea could result in serious unbalancing of the lagoon's freshwater ecosystem.
Read more about this topic: Vistula Lagoon
Famous quotes containing the words proposed and/or canal:
“To coöperate in the highest as well as the lowest sense, means to get our living together. I heard it proposed lately that two young men should travel together over the world, the one without money, earning his means as he went, before the mast and behind the plow, the other carrying a bill of exchange in his pocket. It was easy to see that they could not long be companions or coöperate, since one would not operate at all. They would part at the first interesting crisis in their adventures.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States.”
—William Howard Taft (18571930)