Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
An extensive brackish coastal lagoon along the eastern coast of the northern Adriatic Sea, between the mouths of the Brenta and Piave rivers. Three large, open water-bodies form the actual lagoon, surrounded by a chain of smaller, closed lagoons (called `valli') of lower salinity. The bottoms of the large water-bodies are covered by eel-grass
Zostera and
Ruppia. There are tidal mudflats with sea-lettuce
Ulva and
Enteromorpha, and cord-grass
Spartina is locally common. The surrounding areas are largely cultivated intensively (mainly maize). Main land-uses are fish-farming, aquaculture and hunting inside the `valli', and tourism.
A very important site for more than 100,000 wintering waterbirds (
Fulica atra and
Calidris alpina are particularly common), for breeding herons, and for post-breeding terns which collect to roost here in large numbers from all over the eastern Adriatic Sea (especially
Sterna albifrons and
Chlidonias niger, which form their largest concentrations in Europe here). The maximum total number of wintering waterbirds in January was 74,642 in 1993 and 100,048 in 1994.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The main threats are posed by natural erosion, by increasing industrial activities, by increasing water pollution from agriculture and from the industrial area of Porto Marghera, and by disturbance to birds caused mainly by tourism and hunting. Only a small part of the lagoon (Valle Averto) is a Special Protection Area. Numerous small wildlife reserves were created in the 1990s by the provincial authority (Provincia di Venezia), following the national hunting law of 1991 that obliges a certain percentage of the provincial territory to be closed to hunting. Some or all of the site is covered by a management plan.
National Partial
International LowIBA contains State Nature Reserve (Valle Millecampi, area not known). 245 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Barene di S. Giuliano, 245 ha). 233 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Boschi di Cà Savio-Punta Sabbioni, 233 ha). 1,450 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Casse di Colmata, 1,450 ha). 40 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Cà Roman, 40 ha). 115 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Dune degli Alberoni, 115 ha). 14,500 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Isolotto petrolchimico e Laguna Viva, 14,500 ha). 45 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Laghetti Decal, 45 ha). 90 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Le Vignole-La Certosa, 90 ha). 158 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Pineta di Cà Ballarin, 158 ha). 137 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Seca del Bacan, 137 ha). 52 ha of IBA covered by Wildlife Reserve (Vallesina-Canale Casson, 52 ha). 500 ha of IBA covered by Special Protection Area (Valle Averto, 500 ha). 200 ha of IBA covered by Ramsar Site (Valle Averto, 200 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Venice lagoon (Italy). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/venice-lagoon-iba-italy on 23/12/2024.
