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Since you can’t sip a cocktail slowly with a stuffy nose, you have to wait until the effects of the lagoon bloom have at least dissipated a little. What does this have to do with Seimas member Viktors Pranckietis? At a meeting of the Parliamentary Rural Affairs Committee, the politician proposed allowing (even encouraging!) the felling of trees along the shores of water bodies up to 10 meters from the water surface.
Hearing such opinions from decision-makers may surprise many people. According to V.Pranckietis, we fight water pollution, but we look down on “tree pollution” (whatever that means).
I must remind Mr. V. Pranckiečius that trees, among many other functions, prevent the influx of nutrients into water bodies, rivers and, often, the Curonian Lagoon itself.
Perhaps we should also remember how the natural cycle works, as in early June we can see (and smell) the green Curonian Lagoon. The Nemunas River flows into this body of water, collecting water from many streams, creeks and the Neris River itself on its way.
Algal blooms are caused by nutrients that flow in with the river water, which consume too much oxygen when they grow in large quantities. Then, the shores of the lagoon are not only covered with slimy green algae, but also with dead fish that cannot survive due to lack of oxygen. In other words, the entire ecosystem is affected, and not only that, but the rotting algae also emits a bad smell. We observed this process in early June, as the sea warmed up earlier due to climate change.
Eutrophication or algal bloom is a characteristic not only of the Curonian Lagoon, but also of the Baltic Sea. It is stimulated most by nitrogen and phosphorus. These substances enter the water body from cultivated land, in other words, they are excess fertilizers washed into the water body by rainwater. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has established requirements for fertilization with manure and slurry, but there is still a lack of restrictions or controls on mineral fertilization.
While we are trying to come up with the most effective way to not over-fertilize, but not under-fertilize, so that the harvest grows as expected, the trees growing on the coast and the edges of cultivated fields are a natural barrier that prevents some nutrients from leaching into the water with their roots. After all, most of the nutrients are washed away in the fall or spring – when there is no vegetation yet and the fields are washed by heavy rains or melting snow on the slopes.
Therefore, many countries encourage the application of agroforestry principles, planting trees or shrubs on arable land.
So, although in Victor Planchius’s opinion coastal trees are in some way a factor of water pollution, if we cut them down we will soon have deeper problems with the blooms of the Curonian Lagoon and the sea, and the waitresses in cafes on the Neringa coast should start making holidaymakers wear gas masks while drinking their cocktails.
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