THE SKALA KALLONIS POOL
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The pool was originally a semi-saline lagoon backed by extensive marshes for which it was the main drainage channel. It had an outlet to the Gulf just to the west of the last building on the Skala Kallonis front. This outlet discharged to the Gulf by permeating through the sand. When there was sufficient flow from the marshes or when storms or high tides rearranged the beach, the outlet would be opened, adding to the salinity of the pool but also permitting discharge. For most of the time, like many other rivers in Lesbos, flow was impeded. Hence the Pool.
The
pool in April 1986 taken from the balcony of the house on the right in the 1994
picture (below) - ie this photo is from the other direction to the succeeding
ones. Today there is an hotel on the left of the photograph. The birds in the
Pool are flamingos.
When the road was built along the shore the outlet was filled in and blocked off. The consequence of this has been to turn the Pool into a freshwater lake. This has changed the composition of its fauna. There has been a large increase in moorhens, coot and dabchicks and it has become a better habitat for little bitterns. On the other hand it is now less suitable for glossy ibis (there were frequently large flocks of them in the 1980s although of course there are no longer the extensive marshes for them to feed on) and for flamingos. The change has probably also reduced its attraction for waders.
Unfortunately unlike its previous state as a semi-saline pool,
the Pool's status as a freshwater lake is only a transitional phase. As Richard
Brooks' pictures clearly show, it is evolving into a fen. In another decade or
so, if nothing is done, open water will disappear.
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Since the Pool is a major attraction for the large numbers of visitors to the hotels that have been built along its side there is a case for arresting the process.
What should be done?
It is not possible to put the clock back to its status in the 1980s before the road was built. While it would be possible to create a piped outlet under the road (one is visible under the dirt road at the back of the pool in the 1986 photograph) this is unlikely to restore its status as a semi-saline lagoon. Furthermore it is probably not desirable to attempt to restore that status. The extensive marshes have largely disappeared and the presence of so many people on the edge of an open pool would disturb the birds in any event. A well-vegetated freshwater lake is probably what is needed. An outlet would maintain a flow through the pool and help to reduce the spread of fen provided that there is sufficient inflow. It is unclear whether this still exists since development will have altered the drainage pattern.The alternative would be periodic clearance of vegetation, particularly secondary vegetation such as salix species to maintain areas of open water.
But before any action can be taken a thorough investigation of the ecology and hydrology of the Pool needs to be undertaken and a management plan drawn up. Our analysis of events, while based on observation over 17 years, should be taken as provisional.
The costs of developing a management plan and implementing it could be funded by voluntary contributions from visitors to the hotels at Skala Kallonis. We will shortly put onto the site a discussion document on a green tax on tourists to Lesbos.
Page last updated:11 Sep 2004