The Lake Gala National Park ( tr, Gala Gölü Milli Parkı), established on March 5, 2005, is a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
located within Edirne Province in Marmara Region of Turkey.
The national park covers an area consisting of Lake Pamuklu and Lake Küçük Gala within the boundaries of İpsala and
Enez
Enez is a town and a district of Edirne Province, in Thrace, Turkey. The ancient name of the town was Ainos ( el, Αίνος), Latinised as Aenus. The mayor is Özkan Günenç ( CHP). The population is 10,886 as of 2018.
Enez consists of an old t ...
districts of Edirne Province. It is far from Enez, and from Ä°psala.
In 1991, of land was declared a nature reserve. In 2002, biologists from Trakya University in Edirne demanded transformation of the
protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
into national park status due to pollution of lakes by
pesticide
Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...
waste and fertilizer, used in agriculture, as well as uncontrolled fishing activities and bird poaching that reach a level of massacre. In 2005, the area was enlarged to , and it was established as a national park. Lake Gala National Park is an ecosystem of wetland, lake and forest. It is a habitat for various plant and animal species.
The protected area is administered by the Directorate-General of Nature Protection and National Parks ( tr, Doğa Koruma ve Milli Parklar Genel Müdürlüğü) of the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
The national park is situated within the Maritsa Delta Wetland , which is a
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**
Fauna
;Birds:
The park is quite rich of bird genera. The area hosts around 45,000 birds. Some 163 bird species are observed in the area, of which 46 are resident, 27 winter migratory and 90 summer migratory birds. Best time to observe most of the bird species all together is between April and May in the spring, and September and October in the fall.
In February 2018, it was reported that nearly ten thousand flamingos arrived at the lake for the first time to overwinter because of the mild winter weather, in addition to ducks, geese and trumpeter swans, which migrate every year to .
;Fish:
The two lakes are home to 16 fish genera, including
European eel
The European eel (''Anguilla anguilla'') is a species of eel, a snake-like, catadromous fish. They are normally around and rarely reach more than , but can reach a length of up to in exceptional cases.
Eels have been important sources of fo ...
common carp
The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive The ...
(''Cyprinus carpio L.'') and northern pike (''Esox lucius''), which are of high economic value.