Millstätter See
The second largest lake of Carinthia, the Millstätter See, has an area of 13, 28 km². It has a depth of 141 m and a volume of 1.204,6 million m² and so it is the deepest lake and the richest in water.
The basin of the lake is longitudinal, not sectionalized and has very steep shore embankments, which cause a big average depth of 88, 6 m. The glacially formed valley canyon of the lake is embedded in schist and runs parallel to the Drautal. The catchment area is 284, 5 km² and so 21 times as large as the water surface. Between the lake and the valley of the Drau in the south there is a highland, 2 km broad and covered with woods and moors. This upland very steeply falls down to the lake, and so there could not develop any bigger settlements on the south shore. In the north and in the south the lake is framed by the hilltops of the Nockberge. The Millstätter Alpe in the North and the Mirnock in the east fall down to the lake basin rather suddenly and steeply. The northern shore of the lake is climatically favoured and therefore thickly populated. Here are the popular centres of summer tourism like Seeboden, Millstatt, Döbriach as well as Radenthein and the winter resort Bad Kleinkirchheim, in the northern catchment area.
The name of the lake derives from the village of Millstatt. Frequently you can hear that the name of Millstatt is derived from the Latin “mille statuae” and is based on the legend of St. Domitian. He should have thrown 1000 heathen statues into the lake, when he converted to Christianity. More probably, however, is that the name results out of the pre Slavic “Melissa”, meaning mountain brook or hill brook. This “Milsbach” could have been the Riegerbach, which flows into the lake in Millstatt.
The excellent bathing water quality and the attractive landscape in the surrounding attract numerous tourists year by year. Around the lake you can find 8 bathing beaches.
Water temperatures up to 24 °C invite to go swimming. Because of the large water volume the Millstätter See is very stabile in temperature. Compared to other lakes in Carinthia the temperatures are a little lower. During the summer months, from May to September, the water substance is piled up. On the surface the lake warms up to over 22 °C in the middle of the lake, at the shore zones up to 24 °C or more. The cooling off in autumn happens very slowly. The autumn circulation usually begins in December, the spring circulation in March. If the lake forms no ice sheet, the water substance circulates the whole winter long. A closed ice sheet is rather rare and only forms in very cold winters. The ice sheet starts growing in January and already ends at the end of February or at the beginning of March.
Stabilization measures at the lake. In the early 1930s the Millstätter See was a lake poor of nutrients and with a high concentration of floating algae, with extremely high visibility down to between 6 and 10 m. With the increasing tourism since the 1950s a change of water quality started, which expressed in the algae- blossom and the loss of the high visibility. The burdening of the lake with home-made waste water was responsible for this phenomenon. At that time the waste waters were directly led into the lake and its tributaries. With the beginning of the canalization (1968 to 1994) a process of REOLIOTROPHIERUNG has started and with it the eye-catching algae–blossom has disappeared from the surface. The water is of excellent quality today.
Specialty meromixis. A specialty of natural science of the lake is the partly mixing up, called meromixis. In our latitudes the lakes usually are dimictic, which means that the lakes mix up completely during the circulation phases in spring and in autumn, when the temperature is 4 °C from the surface to the ground. The Millstätter See, however, has only a partly circulation. It is caused by the proportion between water surface and depth and the wind protected position of the lake. The deep waters are not seized by the circulations. In late autumn and in spring the water mixes through down to depths between 50 and 70 m. Only in years with strong influence of winds the lake from time to time can circulate deeper, sometimes even down to the ground. The deep waters that are under the circulating water substance are free of oxygen and rich in nutrients. Because of the missing oxygen the organic substances are not completely decomposed there, hydrogen sulphides is built up and causes a smell of foul eggs.
The circulation is of high importance for the oxygen management of our lakes. It transports the atmospheric oxygen from the surface of the lake down to the ground. There the decomposition process can happen together with a consumption of oxygen. Died off organisms are split up into their un-organic parts with the help of bacteria, and the nutrients phosphor and nitrogen are set free.
In lakes, where the deep waters are regularly prevented with oxygen, the set free phosphor is bound in sediments and disappears (phosphor –trap), so that only a little of it can get up to the surface. In lakes with partly circulating the deep waters stay free from oxygen and so phosphor and ammonium concentrate in the deep water. When circulation happens in deeper regions the nutrients can reach the surface. There they stimulate the growth of algae. This progress is called “internal fertilization”. Phosphor plays a special part in the nutrient management of our lakes, because its presence stimulates the growth of algae.
The main inflow of the Millstätter See is the Riegerbach with its catchment area of 188, 8 km² and an average flowing through of 3.100l/s. Besides by this the lake is also fed by a number of smaller brooks. The runoff, the Seebach, has 5.350 l/s on its average.
The landscape protection area of the Millstätter See- Süd has 2 ha and is situated in the region of the south shore (LGBl. 50/1970).
Recreation in a picturesque landscape. Because of its high water temperatures in summer, already in the early 20th century the Millstätter See was discovered by guests, looking for relaxation. Up to these days the visitors are fascinated by the picturesque landscape.
Biking in pure nature along the southern shore. You can bike around the lake along a round course. Its specialty is the possibility to cover part of it by the “Radschiff Peter Pan”. From the beginning of April until the end of October the 4
liners on the lake dock at 8 stations. Theme- excursions are offered, too.
Fischereimuseum SeebodenFoltermuseum Burg SommereggBonsaimuseum in SeebodenKärnten wasserreichWasserLeben, Kärntner Seen – Ein Naturerlebnis für Groß und Klein
| Millstätter See - Geographic Coordinates |
| Latitude e. |
13,60786844 |
| Latitude n. |
46,77861655 |
| m. a. sealevel |
588 |
| Millstätter See - Morphometric Data |
| Surface [km²] |
13,2813 |
| Max. Depth [m] |
141 |
| Average Depth [m] |
88,6 |
| Volume [m³] |
1.204.556.715 |
| Theoretical Water Residence Time [Years] |
7,5 |
| Runoff MQ (1971 - 1990) [l/s] |
5.090 |
| Catchment Area [km²] |
284,55 |
20 species of fish:
Pike (Esox lucius)
Bass (Perca fluviatilis)
Eel (Anguilla anguilla)
White fish (Coregonus lavaretus) White trout
Lake trout (Salmo trutta f. lacustris)
Catfish (Silurus glanis)
Chub (Leuciscus cephalus)
Bitterling (Rhodeus sericeus amarus)
Carp (Cyprinus carpio)
Bleak (Alburnus alburnus)
Roach (Rutilus rutilus)
Common rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus)
Tench (Tinca tinca)
Pike-perch (Sander lucioperca)
Krook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)
Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
Char (Salvelinus alpinus)
Barbel (Barbus barbus)
Gudgeon (Gobio gobio)
Ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernua)
The variety of fish in the Millstätter See was appreciated ever. A document out of 1940 tells us that the Earls of Ortenburg leased lake regions to native fishers. Up to now the earning by fishing is an important branch of economy. Very easy and effective fishing was at the runoff of the lake. At spawn times the large salmon trout could be caught by mobile fish fences out of rods or by fixed equipments. The last vestiges of the salmon grids in the runoff of the Millstätter See, which in 1638 was documented for the first time, could be seen up to the 1970s. As it had damming effects there often were quarrels, when the fields in Döbriach, on the other end of the lake, were flooded.
The lake trout is the original species of coarse fish in the lake. In Austria it is also called Alpine salmon or salmon trout. It was documented 200 years ago by the botanic Wulfen. During World War I the lake trout was the most important useful fish in the Millstätter See. They caught more than 1.000 kg of the lake trout every year. Its decrease is seen as a consequence of the leading alkaline waste waters into the lake by the magnesite mine in Radenthein. This is reported by Neresheimer& Ruttner (1928) and Findenegg (1962).
Today a fishing farm in Dellach tries to breed and stocked native lake trout that are adapted to the water. They are also engaged in breeding white fish and char.
20 species of fish in the lake. "Maräne", pike and bass are the main group. In 1925 they stocked coregones, especially small- size white trouts out of the Hallstätter See. Since the beginning of the 1970s they stocked bigger-size maraine. They reach weights up to 3 kg and 2 t are caught every year. The white fish are caught by HEGENE. Several baits are moved up and down with the help of a fishing line, so that the slipping of twitch gnat grubs is imitated. Every year in autumn they have an international Fishing Competition for the “Crystal Trout” around the lake.
The bass in the lake are of rather big size, with weights up to 1 kg. They are caught largely. In the spring of 1989 for the first time some ruffes were caught. They might have been dragged in by stocking perch out of France in 1987 (HONSIG- ERLENBURG & SCHULZ, 1989).
The borbot (
Lota lota) that occurred in the lake in former times has obviously vanished, though up to 1973 they were still caught by professional fishermen and the earnings ran up to 50 kg/ year.
For using deeper regions with an economically interesting species, too, since the end of WWI they made systematical efforts to settle down the char. The stocking material originated out of the Grundlsee in the Salzkammergut. These species strongly diminished, too, as well as the lake trout. Besides sporadically there are a few gudgeons in the lake too.
Fishing at the Millstätter See. The lake has 18 fishing authorities, called "Seelehen". They are held by 9 legitimated institutions, at which about 60 % of the water surface is property of the Österreichischen Bundesforsten (ÖBF) in Millstatt. The professional fishing is done by a few full- time and some half- time fishermen. For catching white trout they use floating nets. In 1987 they gave up professional fishing and the areas were leased to regional federations for sports fishing. The profit is 20 kg/ha and year. For sports and hobby anglers this lake is a great challenge. The fishing season lasts from the beginning of March until the middle of December.
Fischereiverband Millstätter See, web:
kristall@renke.at, phone: +43 (0) 4766 3700
Tourist Office Spittal/Drau, 9800 Spittal/Drau, Burgplatz 1, phone: +43 (0) 4762/3420
Tourist Office Seeboden, 9871 Seeboden, Hauptplatz 1, phone: +43 (0) 4762/81210
Tourist Office Millstatt, 9872 Millstatt, Marktplatz 8, phone: +43 (0) 4766/20220
Tourist Office Döbriach/Radenthein, 9873 Döbriach, Hauptplatz 8, phone: +43 (0) 4246/78
Tourist Office Spittal/Drau, 9800 Spittal/Drau Schloss Porcia, phone: +43 (0) 4762/23650-220
On the northern shore between Millstatt and Döbriach sporadically
Astacus astacus, a superiour species are found, but there is no larger population. The few found specimen possibly reach the lake through the tributaries as e.g. the runoff of the Zwergsee. The discovery of a Turkish crayfish (
Astacus leptodactylus) in the region of Millstatt was really remarkable (PETUTSCHNIG, 1996).
Stocking efforts. The ÖBF stocked crayfish at the beginning of the 1960s, probably Turkish crayfish. Oral information of natives tell about having observed them near Millstatt up to the middle of the 1980s but in spite of intense investigation no more river crayfish could be documented. It is speculated that the dense bass and eel population has destroyed the crayfish population.
Valuation of the ecological status. The catchment area of the lake is the region, out of which the surface- and the underground waters flow into the lake. The borders of this area are formed by the watershed. The cartographic description of these catchment areas referring to the usage is the base for the valuation of the ecological status in regard to the general water instructions (WFD). All the fundamental data are registered in a data bank. With the help of the software Arc View GIS, version 3.2, the analysis of the geographic information took place. The topographic state, the natural vegetation and the anthropogen usage of the catchment area deliver important information about nutrient- and pollutant burdens.
There are 40 different forms of vegetation. The descriptions are out of HARTL, STERN & SEGER, 2001, “The Map of Carinthia`s Current Vegetation”. The geo-referenced data out of this work were blended with the catchment area and transferred into the data bank.
They differentiate 40 forms of vegetation. To have a better view on the results they are comprehended in the following tabulation in these main groups :
intensively used agricultural areas, farming green-land, forests, surface- waters, built up areas, Alps and others.
34 forms of utilization in the catchment area. They were geo-referenced and blended with the digital register (DKM) out of 2003.The granted data were transmitted into a data bank and now afford information about the dimensional distribution of the different forms of utilization. The 34 forms of utilization have also been comprehended in the main groups like it has been done for the vegetation groups.
