Burgas Lakes in the context of "Port of Burgas"

Burgas (Bulgarian: Бургас, pronounced [burˈɡas] ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a population of 210,646 inhabitants, while 226,137 live in its urban area. It is the capital of Burgas Province and an important industrial, transport, cultural and tourist centre.

The city is surrounded by the Burgas Lakes and located at the westernmost point of the Black Sea, at the large Burgas Bay. LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas is the largest oil refinery in southeastern Europe and the largest industrial enterprise. The Port of Burgas is the second largest port in Bulgaria, and Burgas Airport is the second most important in the country. Burgas is the centre of the Bulgarian fishing and fish processing industry.

Gulf of Burgas or Burgas Bay (Bulgarian: Бургаски залив, Burgaski zaliv) between the coastline and the straight line joining Cape Emine and Cape Maslen nos is the largest bay of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and one of the largest in the Black Sea. The length of the gulf is 44 kilometres. It is 41 km at its widest and 25 m at its deepest, reaching 31 km at its greatest innermost extent, approximately where the Bulgarian city and major port of Burgas is located. Other towns in the region include Pomorie, Sozopol and Nesebar. The Burgas Bay is the Black Sea's westernmost point.

The bay gets narrow to the west. While the northern coast is lower and has two big peninsulas, at Nesebar and Pomorie, the southern part of the bay is rougher, with many little inlets and headlands. The water's salinity in the bay is 17‰; the sand is of magnetite origin. The Burgas Lakes are located in the wetlands to the west.

Lake Mandrensko or Lake Mandra (Bulgarian: Мандренско езеро, Mandrensko ezero) is the southernmost of the Burgas Lakes, located in the immediate proximity of the Black Sea and close to Burgas in Bulgaria. Being 9 km long and 1.5 km wide at maximum, as well as having an area of 39.94 km², it was a brackish natural lake until 1963, when it was turned into a reservoir with the construction of a dam to secure fresh water for the large Neftokhim Burgas oil refinery. The rivers Izvorska reka, Fakiyska reka, Sredetska reka and Risokastrenska reka flow into the lake. It houses many freshwater fish as well as sharks that are rare to find in the salt water.

Parts of Lake Mandrensko are designated protected area s, Poda and Uzungeren, inhabited by a number of locally and globally endangered species of fish and birds.

Pomorie (Bulgarian: Поморие [poˈmɔriɛ]), historically known as Anchialos (Bulgarian: Анхиало, Greek: Αγχίαλος), is a town and seaside resort in southeastern Bulgaria, located on a narrow rocky peninsula in Burgas Bay on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast.

It is situated in Burgas Province, 20,5 km away from the city of Burgas and 18 km from the Sunny Beach resort. The ultrasaline lagoon Lake Pomorie, the northernmost of the Burgas Lakes, lies in the immediate proximity. The town is the administrative centre of the eponymous Pomorie Municipality.

The nature conservation site Poda was declared a protected area in 1989 by the Bulgarian Ministry of Water and Environment. It was the first protected area in Bulgaria that is completely managed and maintained by a non-governmental organization, the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB). BSPB prepares and implements activities adopted by the Council of Minister's Management Plan, but receives its funding completely from entrance fees, souvenirs sold, and donations. Through this arrangement, it aims to be a sustainable model for nature conservation, environmental education, and eco-tourism.

Located south of the port city of Bourgas on the Southeastern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, Poda is surrounded by the Black Sea and three large lakes - Vaya Lake, Mandra Lake, and Atanasovsko Lake. Along with the protected area Poda, they form a large wetland area called the Burgas Lakes. It is a biologically important area as a resting station for many of the migratory birds who use the Eastern European migratory route, Via Pontica; as well as an important nesting habitat for many breeding species. In 1994, it was classified as a CORINE and in 2002 Poda was included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. It is proposed to be included in the Natura 2000 network within the natural area Mandra - Poda.

Lake Pomorie (Bulgarian: Поморийско езеро, Pomoriysko ezero) is the northernmost of the coastal Burgas Lakes, located in the immediate proximity of the Black Sea and the Bulgarian town of Pomorie. It has an area of 8.5 km (reaching 10 km together with the adjacent damp zones) and has an elongated shape with a length of 6.7 km and width of 1.8–2 km. Divided from the sea by a narrow strip of sand (spit) and an artificial dike, the lake is an ultrasaline natural lagoon.

Lake Pomorie is a protected area since January 2001. Sea salt is obtained in the north part and curative mud in the south. Located on the Via Pontica bird migration route, the lake is inhabited by 215 species of birds, 4 of which globally endangered, and is thus of ornithological importance. Since the 2010s, the lake has become a wintering site for thousands of greater flamingoes.