Lake Doiran

Doiran is a tectonic lake with an area of 43.1 km2 on the border of the Republic of Macedonia and Greece. On the northern shore of the lake is the Belasitsa mountain range. The lake has a rounded shape, a maximum depth of 10 m, the length from south to north is 8.9 km and 7.1 km in width. It is the third largest lake in Macedonia after Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. The lake was formed in the Quaternary period and has a tectonic-volcanic origin.

The Surlovskaya River and the Khanja River flow into the lake, flowing from the mountains of Belasica, and the Golaya River flows into the Vardar River.

There are 16 species of fish in the lake. The Muria water forest is included in the list of “natural monuments” and, together with a small part (200 hectares) of Lake Doiran, is a candidate for inclusion in the EU Natura 2000 network.

Recently, there has been a decrease in the volume of water in the lake due to overuse of water for agricultural purposes. Thus, from 262 million m3 in 1988, its volume decreased to 80 million m3 in 2000, which led to the disappearance of about 140 species of flora and fauna.