Lake Ohrid Experience and Lessons Learned Brief Oliver Avramoski, Macedonian Project Implementation Unit, Lake Ohrid Conservation Project, Ohrid, FYR Macedonia Sandri Kycyku, Albanian Project Implementation Unit, Lake Ohrid Conservation Project, Pogradec, Albania Trajce Naumoski, Hydrobiological Institute, Ohrid, FYR Macedonia Dejan Panovski, Macedonian Project Implementation Unit, Lake Ohrid Conservation Project, Ohrid, FYR Macedonia Veli Puka, Hydrometeorological Institute, Tirana, Albania Lirim Selfo, Ministry of Environment, Tirana, Albania Mary Watzin*, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA,
[email protected] * Corresponding author 1. Description of Lake Ohrid and Its Watershed domestic tourism destination. In Albania, it is the second most important domestic destination for recreation on lakes. 1.1 Introduction and Background Population growth and development have impacted the lakes Lake Ohrid is an ancient lake, formed by tectonic forces 2-3 in many ways. These include intense fi shing pressures, natural million years ago, in the Tertiary period. Because the lake is habitat destruction in the littoral zone, and the introduction so old and is isolated by surrounding hills and mountains, a of pollutants, especially phosphorus, into lake waters. The unique collection of plants and animals have evolved. These eutrophication that is resulting from this phosphorus threatens include a number of relict species, or “living fossils,” and the character of the lakes, their unique biodiversity, and the many endemic species, found only in Lake Ohrid (Stankovic crystal clear water that is Lake Ohrid’s major tourist attraction. 1960). For example, 10 of the 17 identifi ed fi sh species of the Lake Ohrid are endemic, as are many of the lake’s snails, In 1980, UNESCO declared the Macedonian side of Lake worms, and sponges.