- Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea ( _da. Vadehavet, _nl. Waddenzee, _de. Wattenmeer,
Low German : "Wattensee", West Frisian: "Waadsee") is the name for a body of water and its associated coastalwetlands lying between a section of the coast of northwestern continentalEurope and theNorth Sea .Geography
The Wadden Sea stretches from
Den Helder in theNetherlands in the southwest, past the river estuaries ofGermany to its northern boundary atSkallingen north ofEsbjerg inDenmark along a total length of some 500 km and a total area of about 10,000 km².The islands in the Wadden Sea are called the
Frisian Islands .Nature
The area is typified by extensive tidal
mud flat s (the word "wad" is Dutch for "mud flat"), deeper tidal trenches and theisland s that are contained within this, a region continually contested by land and sea. The landscape has been formed for a great part bystorm tide s in the 10th - 14th century, destroying peat land behind the coastal dunes.The Wadden Sea is famous for the rich fauna,
avifauna and flora. Today, a great part of the Wadden Sea is protected in cooperation of all three countries; seeWadden Sea National Parks for the protected areas within the German borders.The Governments of the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany have been working together since 1978 on the protection and conservation of the Wadden Sea. Co-operation covers management, monitoring and research, as well as political matters. Furthermore, in 1982, a Joint Declaration on the Protection of the Wadden Sea was agreed upon to co-ordinate activities and measures for the protection of the Wadden Sea. In 1997, a
Trilateral Wadden Sea Plan was adopted.The Wadden sea was designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance on May 14, 1987.
Recreation
Some Frisians practice the traditional sport or recreation of
wadlopen , or low-tide sea-walking in the Wadden Sea.External links
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* [http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org Secretariat of The Trilateral Cooperation on the Protection of the Wadden Sea]Visitor Links
* [http://www.visitwestdenmark.com Official Tourist Information] for the Northernmost part of the National Park: The Danish Wadden Sea
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