Vistula Lagoon

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Vistula Lagoon

lagoon, Baltic Sea

Also known as: Frisches Haff, Vislinsky Zaliv

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

German:: Frisches Haff

Polish:: Zalew Wiślany

Russian:: Vislinsky Zaliv

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Vistula Lagoon, shallow, marsh-fringed lagoon on the Baltic coast, bisected by the Polish-Russian border and considered part of the Gulf of Gdańsk. Covering 330 square miles (855 square km), it is 56 miles (90 km) long, 6 to 15 miles (10 to 19 km) wide, and up to 17 feet (5 meters) deep. The Nogat, the eastern distributary of the Vistula River delta, is the principal river entering the lagoon. The long, narrow Vistula Spit protects the lagoon from the main body of the Gulf of Gdańsk (northwest); and a narrow, dredged channel offers access to the gulf and the Baltic for the important port of Kaliningrad (Russia). Other ports include Elbląg (Poland) and Baltiysk (Russia). The lagoon has important fisheries.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.