Szczecin Lagoon Szczecin Lagoon Szczecin Lagoon, Stettin Lagoon, Bay of Szczecin, or Stettin Bay (, ), also Oder lagoon (), is a lagoon in the Oder estuary, shared by Germany and Poland. It is separated from the Pomeranian Bay of the Baltic Sea by the islands of Usedom and Wolin. The lagoon is subdivided into the "Kleines Haff" (, "small lagoon") in the West and the "Wielki Zalew" (, "great lagoon") in the East. An ambiguous historical German name was "Frisches Haff", which later exclusively referred to the Vistula Lagoon. From the South, the lagoon is fed by several arms of the
Curonian Lagoon eventually assimilated by the Germans, except along the Curonian Spit where some still live. The Kuršininkai were considered Latvians until after World War I, when Latvia gained independence from the Russian Empire, a consideration based on linguistic arguments. This was the rationale for Latvian claims over the Curonian Spit, Memel, and other territories of East Prussia which would be later dropped. The Lagoon, formed about 7,000 years BCE, is a freshwater lagoon. Water depths average 3.8 meters. It is highly biodiverse, although troubled by water pollution. The presence of algal blooms was confirmed in the 2000s. Curonian Lagoon The Curonian