Strunjun Landscape Park

Territory :

Landscape Park Strunjan lies between the towns of Izola and Piran. Towards the south-west, the peninsula slopes gently down into the Strunjan valley – the flat area of the Strunjan river (Roja river), along which the town of Strunjan has developed and where the gently sloping seashore has been transformed by the construction of the salt pans and the lagoon. The Park has three narrow protected areas: Naravni rezervat Strunjan (Strunjan Nature Reserve), Naravni rezervat Strunjan-Stjuža (Strunjan-Stjuža Nature Reserve), and Naravni spomenik Pinijev drevored (Natural Monument Pine trees avenue).

Physical characteristic :

The Strunjun landscape park includes the Strunjan Nature Reserve, with the longest stretch of pristine coastline on the entire 130-km coast between Grado in Italy and Savudrija in Croatia, delimited by the Gulf of Trieste. Coastal cliffs with preserved natural shores and preserved vegetation in the hinterland are extremely rare throughout the Mediterranean. On the edge of the nature reserve there is one of the two largest known biogenic formations in Slovenia.

Specificity and importance :

A particularity of the marine part of the Park is the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The area of the Park is also important for the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), because during the warm periods of the year young turtles feed in the broader area of the Park. Eighty-three species of fish have been found within the area of the Park, which corresponds to 45% of all species found in the Slovenian seas. The area of Strunjan Park, compared to other protected areas of the Slovenian coastal sea, is characterized by the great variety of benthic invertebrates.

The characteristic species of birds are the Mediterranean gull (Larus melanocephalus), shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii) and sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis). The salt pans and the lagoon see the regular appearance of the little and the great egrets (Egretta garzetta and E. alba).

Threats and Pressures :

In the area of the Park, commercial fishing is conducted with small vessels and, most importantly, with bottom-set gillnets and trammel nets – rarely with fish traps. Mariculture activities are carried out by five shell fishermen, to a limited extent within the Strunjan fishing reserve, where part of the area of the nurseries, where edible mussels are grown, extends within the Park boundaries. Another important activity in the area of the Park is tourism. Each year, the Park is visited by approximately 300,000 visitors, concentrated in the summer season. In July and August, the area is visited by 37% of all annual tourists, and from May to September, as many as 66%.

Ecological characteristics :

The great majority of the rocky coast is still pristine, with supralittoral belt well developed in exposed zones. The mediolittoral belt is mostly made of stones and rocks, whereas the deeper infralittoral is characterized by the presence of sandstone terraces, large rocks and boulders. They are mainly covered with algal vegetation (biocoenosis of photophilic algae), especially brown algae of the genus Cystoseira. Extensive seagrass meadows of Cymodocea nodosa are present on the sandy bottom. The infralittoral biocoenosis of photophilic algae is in deeper water with decreased light conditions replaced by the coralligenous biocoenosis, also known to host a great biodiversity.

Management :

Javni zavod Krajinski park Strunjan, Robert Smrekar, robert.smrekar@gov.si

The Management Plan of the Landscape Park Strunjan was developed in 2018 and validated in 2019 and provides for development policies, ways of implementing the protection, use and management of the protected area, and detailed protection regimes. It is a key programme document for the long-term and effective preservation of the values of the protected area, which sets out the objectives and tasks for the management of the Landscape Park over a period of 10 years.

Geographical position :

Landscape Park Strunjan is situated in the south-western part of Slovenia on the Adriatic coast. It comprises the area of the Strunjan peninsula, projecting into the Gulf of Trieste, the northernmost part of the Mediterranean; the 200m-long shoreline; and the entire bay of Strunjan.