Accepted Abstract for the IV International Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management, 15th - 18th October 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece. HOW FAR IS THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE TRANSBOUNDARY SHKODRA/SCADAR LAKE FROM THE IRBM REQUIREMENTS Spase Shumka 1, Udaya Sekhar Nagothu 2 , Eva Skarbøvik 3 , Andrej Perovic 3 and Spiro Grazdhani 1 1 Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania; 2 Bioforsk, Norway; 3 Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Podgorica, Montenegro; Email: sprespa@yahoo.co.uk An important aim of the DRIMON project 1 (www.drimon.no) is to contribute towards an increased knowledge base and dialogue between stakeholders for the transboundary management of water resources in two Balkan lakes – the Macro Prespa and the Shkodra. In this paper we are trying to find out what is the gap between the current status of the lake, policy and Integrated River Basin Management requirements. Lake Shkoder is the largest lake on the Balkan Peninsula in terms of water surface. The drainage area of the lake is about 5,500 km 2 (4,470 km 2 in Montenegro and 1,030 km 2 in Albania). The lake area varies between 353 km 2 in dry periods and 500 km 2 in wet periods (at maximum level, 335 km 2 is in Montenegro and 165 km 2 in Albania). The lake volume varies between 1.7 km 3 in dry periods to 4.0 km 3 during wet periods. The distance between the mouth of the Crnojevica River (northwestern lake edge) and the lake’s outlet (Buna-Bojana River) is 44 km (maximum length); its greatest width is 13 km. Recent publications by Puric et al. (Konferenca Report 2004) show that Shkoder Lake is still relatively clean. Soluble pollutants will spread quickly in the lake, in particular when entering through the Moraca River in the northwestern lake corner, but will also disappear fast (to sea) because of the short retention time of the water. The analyses of the lake water by Petrovic and Beeton (1981) show that the chemistry of the lake water is similar to the chemistry of the Moraca River from October to June, the warm period of the year. Further, high contamination by afore-mentioned parameters is found in the lake near the mouth of the Moraca and Crnojevica Rivers. This supports the impression that most pollutants in the lake come from these two main tributaries. In this paper we are considering the fishery component as “field” where policy, practices and trends of human impacts are perfectly reflected. Lake Shkodër’s biodiversity has developed in a unique physical environment where geology, geomorphology, hydrology and climate provide a wide variety of habitats. Total biodiversity is high (species-area relationship = 0.875) and the region is considered to be a biogenetic reserve of European importance. In reality, currently it faces with real threats and challenges. From a zoogeographic perspective, the Shkodër Lake region is located in a zone where two major zoogeographic areas meet: the Palaearctic region (Europe, Asia, the Mediterranean and North Africa) and the Palaetropic region (Africa). Their linkage and influences can be seen among bird fauna, with incidences of African species (e.g. African cuckoo, African black heron, flamingo) and winter migratory species of West Siberia (ducks, geese). During the last glacial period Lake Shkodër represented a refuge for several species occurring at that time. As a result, today some relict and endemic animal and plant species are met in the area. After the ice age, species such as the turtledove, the Dauric swallow, Syrian woodpecker and Spanish sparrow have come to the region as they expanded their distribution area. 1 DRIMON (2006-2009) is a research project with full name “ Interdisciplinary assessment of water resources management in two transboundary lakes in South Eastern Europe” ; funded by the Norwegian Council for Research.