!!!Bodensee

Constance, Lake, (Bodensee), Vorarlberg, alt. 396 m, area 538 
km%%sup 2/%, 63 m long, 15 km wide, up to 252 m deep. Lake Constance 
is part of the territory of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria; 27 km 
of the shoreline are on Austrian territory. The lake is considered 
comparatively clean. An early Celtic fishermen's settlement was 
situated near Bregenz; the Romans called the lake Lacus Brigantinus 
(first documented mention by Pliny the Elder, in use up to the 
10%%sup th/%  century) or Lacus Venetus. The German name "Bodensee" 
derives from the Carolingian Palatinate of Bodama (or "Bodman"). 
Southwest of Bregenz, the lake is supplied with water by the 
Bregenzerach river and the Rhine. Due to the estuary regulations of 
1900 and 1923, the Rhine flows into the Fussach bay, which silts up 
very quickly. This is to be alleviated by shifting the river estuary 
further forward. In the west, the old Rhine delta has pushed the 
marshy promontories of Rheinspitz (on the Swiss border, bird 
protection area) and Rohrspitz far out into the lake; in between is 
the flat Wetterwinkel bay. In the Bregenz bay, the foothills of the 
Alpine foreland still reach a height of 60m above water level. The 
lake is rich in fish (35 species including whitefish, lake-trout, 
perch,); the fishing season in the deep waters of the lake, which warm 
up quickly, starts as early as May. The lake is also a paradise for 
birds (approx. 312 species in the Rhine delta alone). Other 
peculiarities of the lake are the "Rheinbrech", periodically occurring 
turbulences caused by a steep drop in the bed of the lake making the 
muddy river water fall rapidly into the clear lake water, the 
meter-high pounding waves at the eastern shore at times of strong 
westerly winds, and the furrowed rocks covered with blue-green algae. 
An unexplained phenomenon is the "Seeschiessen", a thunder-like noise 
coming up from the bottom of the lake. In spring, the lake is a truly 
extraordinary sight when it is covered in pollen. The  Bregenz 
Festival takes place on the largest lake stage in the world. The 
Austrian harbour is situated at  Bregenz. The Austrian shipping routes 
are 7 km (Bregenz-Lindau) and 55 km long (Lindau-Konstanz). 
The Austrian Federal Railways operate 5 large motor ships and 1 motor 
boat. In 1992, approx. 510,000 people travelled on these boats, all of 
which together covered 11 million km in 692 days. Altogether, the 
"Vereinigte Schiffahrtsunternehmen" (United Shipping Lines) own 36 
ships in Austria, Germany and Switzerland with a capacity to transport 
19,000 passengers (1992: 4,8 million passengers). In 1972, the 
"Internationale Bodenseekonferenz" (International Lake Constance 
Conference) was established, consisting of the province of Vorarlberg, 
the German states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria and the Swiss 
cantons of Schaffhausen, St. Gallen and Thurgau. Cross-border 
cooperation serves the International commission for the protection of 
Lake Bodensee, the international shipping commission and the 
international Lake Constance fishing authorities.

!Literature
E. and. O. Danesch, Oesterreich - Ein Land der Seen, 1979; 
E. Held, Vorarlberg und Liechtenstein, 1988; Eugen-Russ-Verlag (ed.), 
Land Vorarlberg, 1988; Oesterreichische Raumordnungskonferenz, (ed.), 
7. Raumordnungsbericht, 1993.


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