Patoku Lagoon, Protected coastal lagoon in Lezhë County, Albania.
Patoku Lagoon is a coastal lagoon of the Adriatic Sea in Lezhë County, Albania, lying between the mouths of the Mat River to the north and the Ishëm River to the south. The wetland complex covers about 480 hectares of inner and outer lagoon, 200 hectares of forest and 450 hectares of farmland. Its flat bed is fed by underground water, and the current outer lagoon is still forming behind a growing littoral cordon.
The lagoon formed during the Holocene as river sediment from the Mat and Ishëm and wave action built four successive lagoons behind coastal barriers; the fourth is today's Patok Lagoon, while a fifth outer lagoon is still forming. From the 1950s, drainage, dam building and deforestation reshaped the wetland.
The lagoon lies within Fushë-Kuqe municipality, which includes the villages of Adriatik, Patok, Gorre, Gurrëz and Fushë-Kuqe. The wetland complex is known for its fish species of economic interest, such as mullet, eel and sea bass, which have long supported local fishing.
The lagoon lies between the mouths of the Mat River to the north and the Ishëm River to the south, in Fushë-Kuqe municipality, whose villages include Patok, Adriatik, Gorre, Gurrëz and Fushë-Kuqe. The whole area is flat, with intensive tectonic activity and abundant groundwater. The climate is mild in winter and fresh in summer, with about 2,479 hours of sunshine a year, an average temperature of 15.5 °C and 1,463 mm of rain annually.
The lagoon is the fourth in a series formed over four phases since the Holocene; a fifth, the current outer lagoon, is still forming behind a rapidly growing sandbar in the west. The whole complex has shrunk to about 1,280 hectares of lagoon, forest, farmland and pasture from a former 4,200 hectares.
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