Bay of Pomerania
Pomeranian Bay

For Poland's leaders, the Szczecin issue is partly economic, involving offshore rights in the Bay of Pomerania.

Between these two islands, there is only a narrow channel (Świna) going to the Bay of Pomerania, which forms a part of the Baltic Sea.

These three rivers start in Szczecin Lagoon and end Bay of Pomerania in the Baltic Sea.

Szczecin is located on the Oder River, south of the Szczecin Lagoon and the Bay of Pomerania.

The Bay of Pomerania lies north of the islands of Usedom and Wolin, east of Rügen.

Pomerania is the area along the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea between the rivers Recknitz in the west and Vistula in the east.

To the west is the island of Rügen; to the southeast, the island of Usedom; to the east, the Bay of Pomerania, and to the south, the German mainland.

It is one of three channels connecting the Oder Lagoon with the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea (the other channels being the Świna and the Dziwna).

After her marriage, Johanna Elisabeth travelled with her husband to Stettin, a city on the limits of the bay of Pomerania, where the base of the regiment of her husband was located.

Starting in 1843, Stettin became connected to the major German and Pomeranian cities by railways, and the water connection to the Bay of Pomerania was enhanced by the construction of the Kaiserfahrt (now Piast) canal.

The bay of Pomerania is crossed by a deepened waterway from the Szczecin seaport, via the river Oder, the Szczecin Lagoon, and Świna allowing large ships to enter the ports of Świnoujście and Szczecin.

In the North, the lagoon is connected to the Baltic Sea's Bay of Pomerania with the three straits Peenestrom, Świna and Dziwna, which divide the mainland and the islands of Usedom and Wolin .

The border now started at a point in the Bay of Pomerania 3 miles (5,5 kilometers) off the shore, from which it ran south through the Szczecin Lagoon and left Camminke on the East German and Papart on the Polish side.

Also, the border within the Pomeranian Bay was extended to 6 miles.

It is separated from the Pomeranian Bay of the Baltic Sea by the islands of Usedom and Wolin.

The two major inlets in the smooth coast are the Pomeranian Bay on the German border in the far northwest and the Gulf of Gdańsk in the east.

Since then, rumors have circulated about clashes, even shootouts, between Polish and East German ships over the rights of fishing boats, yachts and freighters to cross the Pomeranian Bay to reach Szczecin (pronounced sh-CHYET-chin).

Since no reliable data for an inflow from the Baltic Sea exist, the combined inflow is an estimated 18 km3 from a catchment area of 129,000 km2, residing in the lagoon for an average 55 days before being discharged into the Pomeranian Bay.