Lake Hancza will be off-limits to divers?!

As radio.bialystok.pl reports on its pages, managers of Lake Hańcza plan to introduce restrictions on diving. All because of the popularity of the reservoir among diving brothers. This translates into several thousand visitors a year, which worries ecologists.

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The Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection believes that the introduction of restrictions on the use of the water body by divers could be beneficial for the water body.

“We need to think about changing the status of the reserve from a landscape reserve to a nature reserve. Compared to other reserves, there are no restrictions on the number of entries, fishing or diving. And Hancza is an exceptional lake. We can meet here organisms that have survived 12 thousand years. Some parts of the lake should be excluded from diving at all,” argues Teresa Świerubska, the director of the Suwałki Landscape Park.

Lake Hancza is undoubtedly a real Mecca among Polish divers. A basin one of its kind. It stands out on many levels and that is why it is one of the most visited diving sites in Poland.

Whether you are doing OWD or 100m, Hancza and its surroundings are ideal for training. Apart from the visibility, underwater attractions and depths offered by the lake itself, it is important to remember about the infrastructure developed over the years. Today, apart from places adapted to host divers coming from all over the country, we also have some that were designed and built with diving in mind.

Accommodation, meals, toilets and showers, lecture theatres, equipment hire and compressor stations offering both air and mixtures, no longer surprise anyone and are often standard in the area. All this has been tailored to meet growing needs. Both in Poland and across our eastern border, Lake Hancza is a place no one needs convincing or encouraging to visit.

Together with the popularity and all the changes that have taken place in the area over the years, a diving community and a certain canon of behaviour has also taken shape. Therefore, despite the crowds of divers appearing, it is hard to say anything bad about them. After all, nobody cares about preserving the underwater attractiveness and diversity of this place like we do.

“The Hancza must be protected from those who want to close it. Please note that for the number of people who visit Hancza (about 2tys.), there is no rubbish dump, no damaged areas, everything is taken care of because the owners and the diving community take care of it. We are the ones who clean the lake. There are cleaning actions carried out by divers,” says diver Ewa Drucis

“Additionally, we oxygenate the lake. In the winter, we take axes and we make ice holes,” adds diver Luke Drucis

It cannot be overlooked, that people who have reservations about making the lake accessible in the current way, are probably not fully acquainted with the principles which guide divers coming to Hańcza. Taking care to leave the place as you found it, or proper handling of the marl walls and scuba tubes are basics that every diver, even a beginner, knows.

Let us hope that even if new regulations and ordinances are introduced, they will be consulted in advance with the diving community and will not adversely affect the possibility of diving in the lake and, as a result, will not translate into a decrease in the number of visitors. For this could be a situation where everyone loses. From divers, to diving schools and diving bases, to local residents and the lake itself.

Source: radio.bialystok.pl