Burshtyn reservoir and discharge channel

Accommodation around

The Burshtyn Reservoir is a reservoir created in 1965 on the Hnyla Lypa River for the needs of the Burshtyn Thermal Power Plant, which was built near the city of Burshtyn (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast) in 1962. The reservoir is over 7.5 km long and about 2.5 km wide. The total area is 12.6 km². The average depth is 3.5 m, the maximum depth is 8 m. The volume of water is 500 million cubic meters. The best place to see the reservoir from above is from the Bovshev side of the Kasova Hora reserve and the observation deck on the mountain. The Burshtyn Reservoir is a wetland of international importance and belongs to the Halych National Park.

The water temperature in July is from +22 to +24°C. It partially freezes in January and February and thaws in March. Water level fluctuations are up to 1 meter. To improve the hydrological regime of the reservoir, wastewater treatment, bank stabilization, and dredging of certain areas are carried out.

It is not recommended to swim in the reservoir, but it is an acceptable place for fishing. The reservoir's aquatic vegetation includes water horsetail, water fern, arrowroot, lake kuga, reeds, green algae and phytoplankton. The water is constantly warm and is inhabited by fish: carp, bream, channel catfish, silver crucian carp, silver bream, pike perch, pike and ruff. Many waterfowl can be found in the coastal thickets, including wild ducks, gray cranes, muskrats, and swans.

According to Article 1 of the Ramsar Convention, wetlands are defined as areas of marches, marshes, bogs, peatlands or water bodies, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, standing or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including marine areas with a depth of not more than six meters. To determine the sites that can be included in the special List of Wetlands of International Importance, criteria have been developed, including: typicality and uniqueness of ecosystems for a biogeographic region, value of the site for maintaining the biological diversity of the region, existence of endemic, rare and endangered species of plants and animals, regular habitat for more than 20 thousand water birds, or an important place for spawning, feeding and wintering of local fish species, etc. Each Contracting Party to the Convention has to declare at least one of its wetlands to the List of Wetlands of International Importance and take it under protection.

Currently, the List includes 2,221 wetlands with a total area of about 21.421 million hectares. Among them are our 33 wetlands of international importance with a total area of about 678 thousand hectares. Of these, 22 wetlands were granted international status in 1995, and in 2004 the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention decided to grant international status to 11 more wetlands of Ukraine located within the territories of the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine.

The Burshtyn Reservoir and the Dniester River within the Galician region were included in the list of Wetlands of International Importance. Valuable in environmental, economic, eco-educational and recreational terms, the reservoirs of Ivano-Frankivsk region received the conservation status of "Ramsar sites" thanks to the hard work of the NGO "Eco-Halych: Rehabilitation of Wildlife", which works on the conservation, restoration and rational use of the Burshtyn Reservoir located in the Galician National Nature Park (user Burshtyn TPP) and the Dniester River.

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat (known as the Ramsar Convention after the city of its foundation, Ramsar, in Iran) came into force on February 2, 1971. Ukraine renewed its membership in the Convention in 1996 and is one of 169 Contracting Parties to the Convention.

Риболовля на Бурштинському каналі біля водосховища

The dam of the small discharge channel of Burshtyn TPP has become a kind of protected peninsula on the internationally important wetland - Burshtyn Reservoir. This is the only place in western Ukraine where such a large number of water-loving birds gather. As of today, up to 100 different species of birds have been recorded at the reservoir, 19 of which are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.

The Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the Halychyna National Nature Park, a participant in the international project, together with the Dutch company Silence TV Europe, developed a unique hardware and software complex for birdwatching by amateur birders and scientists on the basis of the Halychyna National Nature Park. The number of rare bird species caught on the cameras was never expected. With the help of the program, scientists have the opportunity to conduct research around the clock, identify birds and systematically analyze the state of populations, study the behavior and phenology of migrations. The consultant was Volodymyr Buchko, who made many adjustments to the terms of reference and advised the programmers at all stages of product development and implementation. Currently, time-lapses for effective use in research and image capture systems with time-stamps are already available.

DTEK, together with the Dutch company Silence TV Europe and the Galician National Nature Park, installed 4 online cameras that broadcast the life of waterfowl on the Burshtyn Peninsula. These are the first and so far the only birdwatching cameras in Ukraine that are available to everyone. But the work does not end there, the next stage is to implement a system of automated quantitative and qualitative image analysis and incorporate artificial intelligence into the bird identification program.

Watch the beautiful scenery with relaxing music in online video broadcasts.

Фото птахів на Бурштинському водосховищі

A special commercial fish farm (SCF) has been established at the Burshtyn Reservoir. The SPF regime is in effect throughout the reservoir and at the Burshtyn TPP discharge channel. The SRF regime regulates recreational and sport fishing in the reservoir, defines the places, terms, gear and conditions of fishing.

Free recreational fishing area: the left-bank section of the reservoir within the administrative boundaries of Korostovychi village, 200 meters wide inland (about 3.0 km along the shore). Paid recreational fishing area: coastal water area from the southern boundary of Korostovychi village to the 500-meter exclusion zone near the dam, 200 meters wide inland (length along the shore is about 4.5 km). Paid fishing is organized by Burshtynsky Fish Farm LLC.

On December 27, 2019, the Burshtyn Reservoir was stocked with fish. The Burshtyn Reservoir was stocked with 6,800 kg of juvenile fish. This includes 504,160 silver carp and 62,500 carp. The stocking works were carried out at the expense of the user, Burshtynsky Fish Farm LLC. The work on the introduction of aquatic bioresources was supervised by the Ivano-Frankivsk Fish Protection Patrol. The event was also attended by representatives of the State Environmental Supervision (Control) Department in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast of the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Carpathian District, Burshtyn City Council, Galician National Nature Park, and the public.

Windsurfers train at the Burshtyn Reservoir. Windsurfing is a sport for the hardy and stubborn. It is not for everyone. You have to fight the wind, the water element and your own endurance. Yuriy Chekh from Burshtyn is the main extreme windsurfer on the reservoir. He was one of the first to become interested in sailing, learned it himself, and now passes on his knowledge to others.

We thank Taras Fedunyak for the wonderful photos of Burshtyn and the Burshtyn Reservoir taken with a drone and published on Taras's Facebook page!

Below you will see other places of interest in Burshtyn, and we also suggest visiting the pages of the Prometheus Palace of Culture, famous for its mosaic , the Berehynia Historical and Ethnographic Museum, the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity and the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the old part of Burshtyn .

What water bodies can you fish for free?
How much aquatic bioresources can be caught?
In which water bodies is it possible to catch aquatic bioresources?
What aquatic bioresources can be caught?
Explanation of the legislation for the public.
Order on the establishment of a spring-summer ban on fishing for aquatic bioresources in fishery water bodies of Ivano-Frankivsk region in 2020.