Recent high waters a boon to swimmers and fish in Lake Peipus
Water levels in Lake Peipus are nearly half a meter above normal, helping fish, curbing algae blooms and making swimming easier in Estonia's largest eastern border lake.
By early September, the waters of Lake Peipus have usually receded, leaving swimmers to wade far out to reach deep enough water to swim. This year, the water at the shoreline is deeper.
The unusually high water, caused by a rainy summer, has benefited the shallow lake: fish have more space, spawning conditions are better and algae blooms have been limited compared with previous years.
"We do have a kind of shoreline here, but toward Rannapungerja or Vasknarva, there's no shoreline at all [right now]," said Piia Mändmets, owner of Kauksi Holiday Village. "The waves come right up to the brush, and it isn't possible to walk along a sandy beach farther out."
She added that while it's nice to be able to swim right from the shore, the high water is also seeping into basements and leaving parking lots wet.
Tanel Toots, chief specialist at the Environmental Board, noted that August's average water level of 234 centimeters — measured at the Mustvee monitoring station — ranks 12th in 105 years of records.
As of Wednesday morning, the lake's still-water level was 227 centimeters above the Mustvee station's gage datum, or reference point.
Promising spawning conditions
Lea Tuvikene, a senior research fellow in hydrobiology at the Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMÜ), explained that Lake Peipus' water levels fluctuate in roughly 30-year cycles, and that this year's early rise leaves levels nearly half a meter above the 30-year average.
Tuvikene noted that while algae blooms have appeared in Lake Peipus as early as May and June in recent years, this year they didn't appear until late July and early August — and were limited and short-lived.
This could be a really good year for fish as well, she continued, especially cold-water species like whitefish and vendace, which spawn in late fall.
"Since there's little evaporation, the current water level could persist through spring, meaning even pike, which like to spawn in floodplains, may already have favorable conditions for their spring spawning," the hydrobiologist added.
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Editor: Barbara Oja, Aili Vahtla
