Kattegat

Kattegat and Skagerrak

The Kattegat (Danish, from Dutch, commonly used in English), or Kattegatt (Swedish) is a 30,000 km² sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark to the south and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden in the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Danish Straits. The sea area is a continuation of the Skagerrak and may be seen as a bay of the Baltic Sea or the North Sea or, as in traditional Scandinavian usage, neither of these.

The Kattegat is a rather shallow sea and can be very difficult and dangerous to navigate, due to the many sandy and stony reefs and tricky currents that often shift. In modern times, artificial seabed canals have been dug, many reefs have been dredged by either sand pumping or stone fishing, and a well-developed light signaling network has been installed, to safeguard the very heavy international traffic of this small sea.

Geography

Älvsborg, a sea fortress in the Kattegat

According to the definition established in a 1932 convention signed by Denmark, Norway and Sweden (registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series 1933–1934), the northern boundary between the Kattegat and Skagerrak is found at the northernmost point of Skagen on Jutland, while the southern boundary towards Øresund is found at the tip of Kullen Peninsula in Scania.

Waterways that drain into the Kattegat are the rivers of Göta älv at Gothenburg, together with the Lagan, Nissan, Ätran and Viskan in the province of Halland on the Swedish side, and the river of Gudenå in Jutland, in Denmark.

The main islands of the Kattegat are Samsø, Læsø and Anholt; the latter two, due to their dry summer climate, are referred to as the Danish desert belt.

A number of noteworthy coastal areas abut the Kattegat, including the Kullaberg Nature Reserve in Scania, Sweden, which contains a number of rare species and a scenic rocky shore, the town of Mölle, which has a picturesque harbour and views into the Kullaberg, and Skagen at the northern tip of Denmark.

Currently, a proposal for a bridge from Jutland to Zealand across the southern part of the Kattegat is under political consideration in Denmark. It would link the islands of Zealand and Samsø with continental Denmark.

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the "Kattegat, Sound and Belts" (that is, the Kattegat, Øresund, Great Belt, and Little Belt) as follows:

On the North: A line joining Skagen (The Skaw, northernmost point of Denmark) and Paternoster Skær () and thence northeastward through the shoals to Tjörn Island.

On the South: The limits of the Baltic Sea in the Belts and Sound:

• In the Little Belt: A line joining Falshöft () and Vejsnæs Nakke (Ærö: ).

• In the Great Belt: A line joining Gulstav (Southernmost extremity of Langeland Island) and Kappel Kirke () on the island of Laaland.

• In the Sound: A line joining Stevns Lighthouse () and Falsterbo Point ().

Etymology

According to Den Store Danske Encyklopædi and Nudansk Ordbog, the name derives from the Dutch words kat (cat) and gat (hole, gate). It derives from late medieval navigation jargon, in which captains of the Hanseatic trading fleets would compare the Danish Straits to a hole so narrow that even a cat would have difficulty squeezing its way through, on account of the many reefs and shallow waters. At one point, the passable waters were a mere 3.84 kilometers (2.39 mi) wide. The name of the Copenhagen street Kattesundet has a comparable etymological meaning, namely "narrow passage".

An archaic name for both the Skagerrak and Kattegat was the Norwegian Sea or Jutland Sea (Knýtlinga saga mentions the name Jótlandshaf). Its ancient Latin name was Sinus Codanus.

History

Control of the Kattegat, and access to it, have been important throughout the history of international seafaring. Until the completion of the Eider Canal in 1784, the Kattegat was the only water route into and out of the Baltic region.

Since 1429 in the Middle Ages, the Danish royal family – and later the state of Denmark – has prospered greatly from the Sound dues (toll) charged for passage through the Øresund, while Copenhagen provided shelter, trade and repair opportunities and protection from piracy. The dues was eventually lifted in 1857.

Ecological collapse

The Kattegat was one of the first marine dead zones to be noted in the 1970s, when scientists began studying how intensive industrial activities affected the natural world. In recent years studies and research, for instance, have given much insight into processes like eutrophication, and how to deal with it. Denmark and the EU have initiated costly and far-reaching domestic projects in order to repair, stop and prevent these environmentally destructive and economically damaging processes, since the first Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment in 1985, and are now busy implementing the fourth Action Plan. The action plans sum up a broad range of initiatives and include the so-called Nitrate Directives. The action plans have been viewed as a success, although the work is not finished and all goals are not completely met yet.

See also

• Öresund Bridge

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

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