Gothenburg Port Creates Wetland for Wildfowl

The Port of Gothenburg is working together with the Swedish Transport Administration to create a wetland for wildfowl at Torsviken. The wetland is a way of reinstating an area that has been used for over 40 years for the deposition of dredging spoils.

Ever since the 1970s, the Port of Gothenburg has had a permit to deposit polluted dredging spoils at Torsviken, close to the port on Hisingen. The material has mainly been placed in an embanked area at the southern end of the bay. The permit expired in 2009. The port now wants to cover the material and, as far as possible, reinstate the area to its original character with a rich variety of wildlife and birdlife.

Ida Fossenstrand, the project leader at the Port of Gothenburg, said: “Over the years we have been involved in discussions with ornithologists and interest groups about ways in which we can compensate for the encroachment on nature in this area by the port. The very best alternative is a wetland for wildfowl and we are now about to commence construction.”

Clean clay from the new tunnel

Before the wetland can be created, reinforcement work needs to be carried out and the dredging spoils will then need to be covered with clean material. This is where the new Marieholm Tunnel comes into the picture. The construction of a tunnel in central Gothenburg generates large volumes of excavated material.

This glacial clay can be used to cover the polluted land and by doing so create a protective barrier.

“This is good for Gothenburg, for the port and for nature. We regard the excavated material as a resource that can be used for community development,” said Stein Kleiven, Project Manager at the Swedish Transport Administration for the Marieholm Tunnel.

New visitor destination for the people of Gothenburg

Before the wetland is completed, it will be possible to wander along a path that has been laid around Torsviken. The path has been created in collaboration with the Parks and Landscape Administration and Västra Hisingen.

“We at the port are hoping that in the future we can offer our neighbours a rich variety of wildlife at Torsviken,” Ida Fossenstrand concluded.

[mappress mapid=”20059″]