Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Island Lakes in Poland and Their Legal Protection Cover

Island Lakes in Poland and Their Legal Protection

Open Access
|Dec 2025

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Location of the study area.
Explanations: 1 – lakes, 2 – scope of the study area, 3 – country border.
Location of the study area. Explanations: 1 – lakes, 2 – scope of the study area, 3 – country border.

Fig. 2.

Examples of lakes (presented in different scales) with the highest island index (%) (Choiński 2007, changed).
Examples of lakes (presented in different scales) with the highest island index (%) (Choiński 2007, changed).

Lake islands in protected landscape areas_

Lake districtNumber of lakes with islands in protected landscape areasTotal number of islands in protected landscape areasTotal area of islands in protected landscape areasShare of islands under protection in protected landscape areas in the total number of islandsShare of the area of islands under protection in protected landscape areas in the total area of islands
[–][–][ha][%][%]
Pomeranian108202473.9049.357.7
Masurian163405937.7574.969.9
Great Poland-Kuyavian467497.9045.132.0
Total3176811509.5561.163.0

Lakes with the highest island index (more than 10%) (based on the orthophotomap)_

LakeNumber of lakes in the catalogue of Poland (Choiński 2006)Area of the lakeArea of the islandsNumber of islandsIsland index
[ha][ha][–][%]
No nameI-28-512.00.361180.0
No nameI-76-011.20.20116.8
No nameI-19-921.50.22114.9
No nameI-27-983.40.51914.8
SzczurkowskieII-53-0631.24.37114.0
No nameII-05-0516.22.21113.6
Lubicko WielkieI-45-07195.025.98213.3
Wdzydze (whole)I-28-471 078.6140.96913.1
Przemęckie IIII-49-17233.827.31211.7
GordyjskieII-17-4830.03.40111.3
OstrowieckieI-83-20123.813.79211.1
OstrowiteI-18-10410.51.15111.0

Lake islands in nature reserves_

Lake districtNumber of lakes with islands in nature reserves based on topographic mapsTotal number of islands in nature reservesTotal area of islands in nature reservesShare of islands under protection in nature reserves in total number of islandsShare of area of islands under protection in nature reserves in total area of islands
[–][–][ha][%][%]
Pomeranian101254.252.96.6
Masurian23106384.019.628.6
Great Poland-Kuyavian61572.49.131.3
Total39133510.6511.921.3

Numerical and areal variation of islands (according to Choiński 2007)_

Size classNumber of islandsTotal area of islands
[ha][–][%][ha][%]
<178370.22314.313.12
1–525322.69560.423.40
5–10383.41251.810.51
10–20181.61265.011.06
20–50151.35393.416.42
>5080.72610.725.49
Total1115100.002395.8100.00

Lake islands in Natura 2000 areas_

Lake districtNumber of lakes with islands in Natura 2000 areasTotal number of islands in Natura 2000 areasTotal area of islands in Natura 2000 areasShare of islands under protection in Natura 2000 areas in the total number of islandsShare of the area of islands under protection in Natura 2000 areas in the total area of islands
[–][–][ha][%][%]
Pomeranian131241608.6059.574.8
Masurian90246860.1545.564.1
Great Poland-Kuyavian3871118.9043.351.4
Total2595581587.6550.366.5

Lake islands in national parks_

Lake districtNumber of lakes with islands in national parks based on topographic mapsTotal number of islands in national parksTotal area of protected islands in national parksShare of islands under protection in national parks in total number of islandsShare of area of islands under protection in national parks in total area of islands
[ha][%][%]
Pomeranian71217.52.92.1
Masurian31688.53.06.6
Great Poland-Kuyavian122.11.20.9
Total1130108.12.74.5

Lake islands are protected individually in the form of ecological sites, nature and landscape complexes and natural monuments_

Lake districtNumber of lakes with islands in the form of individual nature protectionThe total number of islands in the form of individual nature protectionTotal area of islands in the form of individual nature protectionShare of islands in the form of individual nature protection in the total number of islandsShare of the area of islands in the form of individual nature protection in the total area of islands
[–][–][ha][%][%]
Pomeranian214336.3010.54.4
Masurian1555312.4010.223.3
Great Poland-Kuyavian122352.4514.022.7
Total48121401.1510.916.7

Number of lakes and their surface areas on individual lakes based on the orthophotomaps_

Lake districtNumber of lakesTotal area of lakesNumber of lakes with islandsNumber of islandsTotal area of islands
[–][ha][–][–][ha]
Pomeranian3214106,622.6234407714.60
Masurian2019135,138.02365721231.77
Great Poland-Kuyavian129845,375.780136215.20
Total6531286,136.355011152161.57

Lakes with the highest number of islands (based on the orthophotomap)_

LakeNumber of lakes in the catalogue of Poland (Choiński 2006)Area of the islandsNumber of islandsAltitude
[ha][–][m a.s.l.]
MamryII-16-2302.832115.8
NarieII-23-3226.9917104.6
JeziorakII-32-41192.21699.2
DadajII-25-1622.7116122.5
WigryII-19-0163.4913131.9
DrawskoI-44-3686.5712128.3
KisajnoII-16-02156.5511115.8
WielimieI-45-53124.3211132.6
Wdzydze (whole)I-28-47140.969134.1
OrzyszII-37-1872.769119.7–120.0
WulpińskieII-34-3222.767105.8
BytyńskieIII-19-1026.67684.8
GopłoIII-23-0126.49576.8–77.2

Lake islands in Poland and their protection_

Lake districtNumber of lakes with islands based on the topographic mapTotal number of islands based on the topographic mapTotal area of islandsNumber of islands under legal protectionArea of islands under protectionShare of islands under protection in total number of islandsShare of area of islands under protection in total area of islands
[–][–][ha][–][ha][%][%]
Pomeranian239410822.0343796.0083.796.8
Masurian2155411342.55061316.8593.598.1
Great Poland-Kuyavian102164231.3114196.4069.584.9
Total55611152395.89632309.2586.996.4

Surface areas of the largest islands on Polish lakes_

Name of islandName of lakeArea of islands based on orthophotomap [ha]
WielimskaWielimie94.6
Ostrów WielkiWdzydze92.5
OstrówJeziorak85.1
Duży OstrówMamry79.8
BielawaDrawsko75.0
UpałtyMamry68.3
RóżOrzysz56.4

Lake islands in landscape parks_

Lake districtNumber of lakes with islands in landscape parks based on topographic mapsThe total number of islands in the landscape parksTotal area of islands in the landscape parksShare of islands under protection in the landscape parks in the total number of islandsShare of the area of islands under protection in the landscape parks in the total area of islands
[–][–][ha][%][%]
Pomeranian4398408.6524.249.7
Masurian2360278.3011.120.7
Great Poland-Kuyavian163684.4522.036.5
Total82194771.4017.432.2

Share of islands in area ranges_

Area rangeNumber of islandsShare
[ha][–][%]
20–100242.2
10–20141.3
5–10353.1
1–522320.0
Below 181973.4
Total1115100.0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2026-0005 | Journal eISSN: 2081-6383 | Journal ISSN: 2082-2103
Language: English
Submitted on: Oct 4, 2024
Published on: Dec 16, 2025
Published by: Adam Mickiewicz University
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year
Related subjects:

© 2025 Adam Choiñski, Andrzej Macias, Rajmund Skowron, published by Adam Mickiewicz University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

AHEAD OF PRINT