Vistula Lagoon Haff" = "Fresh Lagoon". Digging a canal to connect the lagoon with the Baltic Sea is in consideration as a major EU-supported project. The canal, would re-activate the Elbląg river port. It would also free its dependence on Russia, which time and again revokes the right of passage for Polish ships through the Strait of Baltiysk as a form of pressure on Polish authorities. In October 2016 details of the project were confirmed by PiS leader, Jarosław Kaczyński. The long, 80 metres wide and 5 metres deep canal shall be completed by 2020 at an estimated cost of PLN 880
Vistula Lagoon The bordering administrative regions is Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship and modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, which had name Königsberg Oblast during half of 1946. While today the Kursenieki, also known as Kuršininkai are a nearly extinct Baltic ethnic group living along the Curonian Spit, in 1649 Kuršininkai settlement spanned from Memel (Klaipėda) to Danzig (Gdańsk), including the area around the Vistula Lagoon. The Kuršininkai were 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