Natura 2000 in Hellas

Site Code:     GR2440002	Type:      I
Longtitude:     21o 49 14	Latitude:     38o 21 55
Administrative Region:     Sterea Ellada	Prefecture:     Fthiotida
Altitude (m):     650	Area (ha):     47544

Description:

The site is located in the eastern part of central Greece; it is attached to the periphery zone of the Oiti National Park and it is neighbour to Timfristos and Vardousia Mountains. Three different parts can be distinguished in the site: a) Maliakos Bay, b) the estuary of Spercheios River and its surrounding area and c) Spercheios River valley and its springs. The site covers in total 34.000 ha. Maliakos Bay covers 9.000 ha. It is a small enclosed embayment connected to the Aegean Sea and N. Evoikos Gulf by two small openings on the east. In the outer eastern part the average depth is 30 m and in the inner western part it does not exceed 25 m; the bottom is covered mostly by soft sediments. Spercheios River meets the sea in the SW corner of the bay. The innermost part of the bay close to the mouth of the river is the shallowest one. The fishing activity of the bay is conducted by 322 registered fishing boats (7-150 HP, 4-12 m long), owned by 700 fishermen. Fish and shellfish production of the bay is high. There are fishing restrictions by the State for the inner part (nearly half of the total of the bay). The core of the estuary covers 319.5 ha while the wider area comes up to 10.000 ha. The estuary and its surrounding area forms a diverse landscape. There are two types of natural vegetation. The first one is located along the river bank while the second covers the area of the salt meadows. The former is dominated by Salix sp., Populus sp., Rubus sp., Agnus sp., Phragmites spp., Typha sp. and the latter by Phragmites australis close to the river and by Arthrocremnum sp., Tamarix sp. and Salicornia sp. in the rest of the area. Most the area outside the core is intensively cultivated-mainly ricefields. The land around the estuary is occupied mainly by dry cropland and grasslands while a small portion is covered by olive trees. The last part of the estuary, close to the mouth of the river and where the land meets the sea, forms a shallow lagoon-like embayment called Livari (500 ha); the depth in the biggest part of it is 5 m. Here hunting is forbidden by law. Hunting is also illegal in the estuary and its neighbouring parishes. The westernmost part of the site includes the mountain-type part of Spercheios River, its valley and springs. The length of the river is 82,5 km and it starts from Tymfristos Mountain at 2.327 m altitude. Its valley covers 15.000 ha, with an average altitude of 621 to 810 m. Moving from the city of Lamia to the river’s springs, the landscape is dominated by permanent dry and irrigated cropland. At the northern part of the valley there is cropland under shifting cultivation, grasslands and abandoned agricultural lands. Finally, close to the springs of the river, apart from small patches of land occupied by orchards, the area is dominated by abandoned agricultural land. At the fringe around of the valley, close to the foot of the surrounding mountains, the vegetation is characterised by phrygana.

Habitat Types:

Estuaries, Large shallow inlets and bays, Salicornia and other annuals colonizing mud and sand, Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic halophilous scrubs (Arthrocnemetalia fructicosae), Dune-slack reedbeds and sledgebeds, Dunes with Euphorbia terracina, Mediterranean temporary ponds, Floating vegetation of Ranunculus of plane submountainous rivers, Constantly flowing Mediterranean rivers: Paspalo-Agrostidion and hanging curtains of Salix and Populus alba, Intermittently flowing Mediterranean rivers, Pseudo-steppe with grasses and annuals (Thero- Brachypodietea), Oriental plane woods (Platanion orientalis), Thermo-Mediterranean riparian galleries (Nerio-Tamariceteae) and south-west Iberian Peninsula riparian galleries (Securinegion tinctoriae).

Plant Species:

There is no information about plant species of this region.

Animal Species:

Myotis blythi, Lutra lutra, Bombina variegata, Testudo hermanni, Testudo marginata, Emys orbicularis, Elaphe situla, Phoxinellus spp., Barbus plebejus, Barbus capito.

Other important species:

-Flora: -Fauna: 5A, 3B, 9C, 8D

Impacts/Activities:

-Positive: - -Neutral: 140, 200, 210, 501, 810 (IN) -Negative: 100, 110, 120, 130, 220, 230, 421, 424, 502, 504, 802 (IN)

Protection Status:

-National and Regional level: Game refuge -International level: IBA

Significance:

The quality and importance of the site spring of the following reasons: 1) Maliakos Bay supports a significant fish and shellfish production; there is also a very good potential for the development of aquaculture. 2) Livari, the innermost part of Maliakos Bay, is a natural sea park for the reproduction of fish and growth of their juvenilles. 3) The estuary of Spercheios River offers ideal environmental parameters for many species of the avifauna many of which are protected. 4) The surrounding cultivated area-mainly ricefields-is of major financial importance for the neighbouring parishes. 5) The river itself, supports a diverse fishfauna with many important-endemic, protected- species. Also, it irrigates the fertile soils of its valley and of its estuary. 6) The thermal springs of Thermopyles, hosting the african fish Tilapia nilotica, as well as the carstic springs of Agia Paraskevi, are of great ecological interest.