River villages of Mysovka and Minija and their environment

Abstract

In this paper the development of two heritage settlements of the Nemunas delta is analysed. In the river villages of fishing farmers narrow land parcels stretched along both banks, and the riverserved as a street. Deforestation and soil erosion in the Nemunas and Minija river basins caused a rapid sedimentation and loss of fishing sites in the deltaic foreshore in 1600s - 1700s, while changes in population density in the Nemunas delta due to the plague and warfares caused a shifting landscape succession on the floodplains: black alder mires were turned into Carex-meadows and the vice-versa. The diking of the left-side Nemunas delta in 1800s had split the whole region into two very different landscapes: intensively cultivated polders were established around Mysovka, while extensively used flooded meadows remained around the Minija village. Under the Soviet planning system the two parts of the delta developed right opposite: fishing became the key activity in Mysovka, while the floodplains around Minija were used for grass-pellet production. Fish poaching is currently the biggest problem in the region with illegal landings comprising to 70% of the fish yield from the Curonian lagoon. The central part of the Nemunas delta is internationally recognized as an IBA. Thence, in the future Minija and Mysovka villages could benefit from the bird waitching tourism development.