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The Kattegat (; ; ) is a sea area bounded by the peninsula of Jutland in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the Swedish provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Scania in Sweden in the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Danish straits. The sea area is a continuation of the Skagerrak and may be seen as a bay of the North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean, though this is not the case in traditional usage.
The Kattegat is a rather shallow sea and can be dangerous to navigate due to many sandy, stony reefs and the tricky shifting currents. In modern times, artificial seabed channels have been dug, many reefs have been dredging either by sand pumping or boulder clearance, Artificial Reefs and a well-developed Lighthouse network has been installed to protect the heavy international traffic on this small sea.
There are several large cities and major ports on the Kattegat, including, in descending size, Gothenburg, Aarhus, Aalborg, Halmstad, Varberg and Frederikshavn.
Major that drain into the Kattegat are the rivers of Göta älv at Gothenburg, together with the Lagan, Nissan, Ätran and Viskan in the province of Halland on the Swedish side, and the Danish river of Gudenå in Jutland.
The main islands of the Kattegat are Samsø, Læsø and Anholt; due to their relatively dry climate, the last two are, perceived to belong to "the Danish desert belt".
A number of noteworthy coastal areas abut the Kattegat, including the Kullaberg Nature Reserve in Scania, which contains a number of rare species and a scenic rocky shore, the town of Mölle, which has a picturesque harbour and views into the Kullaberg, and Skagen at the northern tip of Denmark.
Since the 1950s, a bridge project usually referred to as Kattegatbroen (the Kattegat Bridge) connecting Jutland and Zealand across the Kattegat has been considered. Since the late 2000s, the project has seen a renewed interest from several influential politicians in Denmark. The bridge is usually envisioned as connecting Hov (a village south of Odder in the Aarhus area) with Samsø and Kalundborg.
An archaic name for both the Skagerrak and Kattegat was the Norwegian Sea or Jutland Sea (Knýtlinga saga mentions the name Jótlandshaf). Its ancient Latin language name was Sinus Codanus.
Beginning in 1429 in the Middle Ages, the Danish royal family – and later the state of Denmark – prospered greatly from the Sound dues, a toll charged for passage through the Øresund, while Copenhagen sheltered and repaired ships and provided trade opportunities and protection from piracy. The dues were eventually lifted, in 1857.
, known locally as bubbling reefs (), can be found in the northern Kattegat. Unlike those in most other places (including the North Sea and Skagerrak), the Kattegat's cold seeps are at relatively shallow depths, generally from below the surface. The seeps rely on methane deposited during the Eemian period and during calm weather the bubbles can sometimes be seen on the surface of the water. Carbonate cementation and lithification form slaps or pillars up to tall and support a rich biodiversity. Due to their distinct properties, the Kattegat bubbling reefs are under protection and are recognised by the European Union (EU) as a Natura 2000 habitat (type 1180).
Several large areas of the Kattegat are designated under Natura 2000 and various bird protections such as the Ramsar Convention. The remaining larger shallow reefs are among the protections, as they are important spawning and feeding grounds for fish and marine mammals and support a thriving but threatened biodiversity. Protected areas include:
== Gallery ==
Ecological collapse
The Kattegat, characterised by widespread anoxia, was one of the first marine dead zones to be noted in the 1970s, when scientists began to study the effects of heavy industry on the natural world. Since then, research has leant much insight into processes like eutrophication, and how to deal with it. Since the first Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment in 1985, Denmark and the EU have begun costly, far-reaching domestic projects to stop, repair and prevent these environmentally destructive and economically damaging processes (1996). 9780875902661 ISBN 9780875902661 and are now busy implementing the fourth Action Plan. The action plans sum up a broad range of initiatives and include the so-called Nitrate Directives. Implementation of the Nitrates directive in Denmark Danish Ministry of the Environment The action plans have generally been viewed as a success, although the work is not finished and not all goals have been met yet.
Protections and regulation
Due to its very heavy sea traffic and many large coastal settlements, the Kattegat has been designated as a Sulphur Emission Control Area as part of the Baltic Sea since 2006. As from 1 January 2016 the benchmark for sulphur in fuels was lowered to 0.1%.
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