Spanning more than 2,000 kilometers from north to south, Sweden is blessed with tens of thousands of lakes and roughly the same number of rivers and streams, as well as a lengthy coastline along the Gulf of Bothnia, the Baltic Sea, and the North Sea. Small wonder that it is a nation with plenty of angling opportunity and a diversity of fish species.

Sweden’s western saltwaters have such typical northern species as cod, lire (pollack), and mack-erel, and its eastern and more brackish waters contain mostly pike (big ones), zander (pike-perch), and perch. The rivers and small streams host Atlantic salmon, brown trout, pike, perch, carp, and various coarse species. With the exception of salmon, these species are present in an almost uncountable number of big and small lakes (about 100,000).

Diversity is also found in the country’s climate, thanks to the distance between north and south. In January, the temperature can be above 0°C with no snow or ice in southernmost Sweden, but it may be 20° to 30° below zero with several meters of ice and snow on the lakes in the northern region of Lapland. Spring normally begins in March or April in the south, but it may not arrive until June in the north, when the snow and ice begin to melt.

As a result, the waters in the north are ice-free for only three or four months per year, whereas some are ice-free year-round in most places in the south, especially on the coasts. Seasonal activity, therefore, varies according to latitude; for instance, April is normally a very good month for pike and brown trout in the south, but in the north April is a prime period for ice fishing.

The Baltic Sea, is a stretch of sea located in Northern Europe. It is guarded by the Gulf of Bothnia in the north, the Gulf of Finland on the northeast and the Gulf of Riga on the east. From its south it drains into the North Sea and then into the Atlantic Ocean. It is linked to the White Sea, by the White Sea Canal (which is man-made) and to the North Sea by the North Sea Canal. The Baltic Sea is the largest body of low salinity water (also known as “brackish water”). For this fact, the Baltic Sea has gained a lot of popularity among sea researchers. It is a glacially scoured river valley and not formed due to collision of plates (which is the usual reason for sea basin formation); this is the reason for its relative shallowness.

It would also interest many, that the Baltic Sea is actually only a forth in size of its drainage basin, which roughly holds a population of 85 million. However, 48% of this land is thickly forested, another 17% is just unused open land (I wonder why?), 8% are wetlands and a meager 20% is used for agriculture and pasture. So, the population is concentrated in the remaining 7%. 45% of the population is Polish, 12% is Russian, 10% is Swedish and the rest are from about ten other nationalities. So, the Baltic Sea drainage basin is a multi-cultural place, an obvious reason for its attraction from many tourists and behavioral researchers.

Going back in time, the area was just a river bed prior to the Pleistocene: the Eridanos. Multiple glaciations at this time, would be the plausible reason for the river bed to get further scooped into a sea basin. By the time the Eamian interglacial occurred, the Eamian Sea was well in place. This now leads us to the several names the sea has had over the years. The Romans had christened it as the Mare Suebicum or Mare Sarmaticum. This name originated from the Suebi tribe that resided there. In Getica, Jordanes has called it the Gremanic Sea. The Scandinavians called it “The Eastern Lake”. An older name was recorded in Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus. It was “Gandvik”, “vik” can loosely be comprehended to mean “bay”. This shows that the Baltic Sea was understood as an inlet of the sea since the Viking Age.

The Baltic Sea experiment which started in 1992, is studying the relationship and exchange of energy from the atmosphere to the surface of the earth. This experiment is being conducted to mainly study climatic changes and their causes in a concrete manner. The reason why the Baltic Sea is selected for this research, is the fact the Baltic Sea is neither a freshwater body, nor a salt water body. This makes its eco-system very vulnerable.

The Baltic Sea, in spite of being one of the best studied sea in the world, is also one of the most polluted ones. The pollution is now being effectively monitored. However, the deterioration of this water body has been in process since decades. It was grave for all those who were tipped off the refugee-ships in 1945. A group of Russian scientists also discovered a whomping figure of 5,000 crashed airplanes and sunken warships at the bottom of the sea. As per their further research, this had happened around the time of the Second World War (This makes one wonder, could we possibly find a treasure there?). Jokes aside, the alarming pollution teamed with the stagnation of its deeper waters, is life-threatening to its resources.

Our planet, our home, is above 70% water. And we humans cannot survive without it. In light of this, would it be acceptable (for the sake of the future generations) to let such deterioration happen to a water body that, by nature, is so mysterious and unique?

The Baltic Sea, is a stretch of sea located in Northern Europe. It is guarded by the Gulf of Bothnia in the north, the Gulf of Finland on the northeast and the Gulf of Riga on the east. From its south it drains into the North Sea and then into the Atlantic Ocean. It is linked to the White Sea, by the White Sea Canal (which is man-made) and to the North Sea by the North Sea Canal. The Baltic Sea is the largest body of low salinity water (also known as “brackish water”). For this fact, the Baltic Sea has gained a lot of popularity among sea researchers. It is a glacially scoured river valley and not formed due to collision of plates (which is the usual reason for sea basin formation); this is the reason for its relative shallowness.