10 000 years ago
3km Why fish thrive here...
Ice
Replot
Vaasa
2km
1km
The Kvarken archipelago has been shaped by the ice movement during the last ice age. The heavy ice sheet pushed down the bedrock and grind it into gravel and boulders. This gravel is called moraine and it is shaped in ridges formed by rivers and currents under the ice as well as by the movement of the retreating ice during the meltdown. The land started rising rapidly after the ice had melted and it is still rising and creating 2 1km more land each year. The Kvarken archipelago is less than 2000 years old and people only settled here 1000 years ago. 10 000 years ago
4000 years ago
2000 years ago
The Kvarken archipelago today consist of 7000 islands and little islets. The sea is very shallow and rocks lie scattered all over, making it a navigators nightmare, but a paradise for fish.
Present day
The Kvarken area has a rapid water exchange due to the masses of water that constantly spill out into the Bothnian Bay from the rivers up north. This makes the water brackish with a low salinity of 4-5‰. The surface currents bring along nutrients and make the area highly productive. This maritime ecosystem sustains a unique combination of fresh and saltwater species. Viewed from above
Flada Morain ridge Glo-lake
As the land rises, morain ridges can cut off bays from the sea, which will eventually turn into lakes. These enclosed bays, so called Fladas, are well protected areas and perfect for fish to spawn in.
The main fish species found in the Kvarken archipelago are Perch, Baltic herring, Whitefish, Pike, Sea trout, Salmon, Ide, Ruffe, Roach, Burbot, Grayling, Bream & Flounder. Fish and Seals were the main reason why people settled in the area, and fish is still an important part of the diet for people living in the archipelago. Today seal hunting is prohibited and the seal populations are thriving. People in the archipelago still fish to eat, but there are only 3000 people living here permanently (less than there are seals in the area), so the fish stocks aren’t deminishing all too rapidly.