Site description A shallow, brackish, coastal lake just to the west of, and bordering, the town of Burgas, and connected to the Black Sea by a canal with a sluice. Reedbeds of Phragmites and Typha fringe most of the shoreline, where salt-tolerant vegetation is dominated by Puccinellia.

Birds The complex is important for wintering and migrating waterbirds, especially for wildfowl such as geese (Anser albifrons and the globally threatened Branta ruficollis) and ducks (e.g. Aythya spp. and the globally threatened Oxyura leucocephala). Pelicans Pelecanus also rest here in notable numbers. Species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria: Pelecanus crispus (max. 10 in winter and on passage), Aythya nyroca (breeding).

Protection status National Partial International None397 ha of IBA covered by Protected Landscape (Vaya, 397 ha).

Conservation issues The IBA and surroundings suffer from high levels of industrial and chemical pollution, and the continued construction of industrial and residential districts also poses a threat. The lake is monitored by BSPB under the Bulgarian-Swiss Biodiversity Conservation Programme.

Citation BirdLife International 2005 BirdLife's online World Bird Database: the site for bird conservation. Version 2.0. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. Available: http://www.birdlife.org (accessed 16/1/2007)