Bourgas Lake „Vaya“is located on the Via Pontica Migration Road. The management of the reedbeds along the banks of this wetland with a highly valuable human ecosystem is of great importance for the preservation of open water area, necessary for feeding and resting of the 245 species of birds and for preserving the fish stocks of the water basin.
The lake “Vaya” is the largest natural lake in Bulgaria and is a shallow-brackish coastal lake- an open liman with a weak connection to the sea and waterfront vegetation along the coast. It is situated to the west of Bourgas and its entire eastern part borders the industrial and residential districts of the city. “Vaya” is connected to the sea through a channel with a gateway, the cleaning of which in recent years is one of the most important challenges facing the normal functioning of the lake. The channel carries the vital fresh water from the sea, and with it nutrients and the free movement of fish and other seafarers to the otherwise mostly freshwater lake.
For more than 4 months, the Via Pontica Foundation has maintained the canal, linking the lake with the sea, with a volunteer work and free of charge boat for mowing the frail. The bed of the channel is cleaned from the overgrown reed and the bulrush. This allows a normal exchange of lake water, which due its weak salinity, important for the proper functioning of this ecosystem, to the direct direct link with the sea.
The cleaned canal allows local rowers to practice, and the citizens of Burgas are given the opportunity to enjoy a boat trip and to watch the birds directly from the lake waters.