After several delays, the long-planned Prerow island harbour, which will be located around 1.5 nautical miles to the east of the current Darßer Ort port of refuge on a 720-metre-long pier off the coast, is due to be completed at the start of the 2024 season. This should put an end to years of struggling with regular dredging work, which was necessary in order to be able to navigate the constantly silting channel to the harbour basin of Darßer Ort.
Emergency harbour disturbed in the core zone of the national park
The former emergency harbour lies in the middle of the core zone of the Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft National Park, which was established 33 years ago. In the past, there have been regular disputes with the national park administration and environmentalists over the dredging work. As a result, the DGzRS has had to move the rescue cruiser to the relatively distant Barhöft harbour to the east on several occasions.
The island harbour, which is still under construction, is now also to become the new base for the rescue cruiser "Nis Randers", which was previously stationed in the Darßer Ort port of refuge. According to the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS), the station is important due to the immediate proximity of the coastal section to the Kadetrinne shipping lane, which is a bottleneck for large ships.
The previous harbour basin at Darßer Ort was created in the early 1960s for the GDR People's Navy, which stationed speedboats there. After reunification, it became an emergency harbour. The location is strategically favourable for pleasure boat crews on their way along the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as it is the only stop-off point far and wide.
From Monday until the coming season, the fairway as well as all embankments and jetties are to be removed and all other installations such as the road and technical facilities are to be dismantled.
Environmentalists see the measures as an opportunity to renaturalise the ecologically sensitive section of coastline, which, according to the national park administration, will now once again become "a refuge for otters, kingfishers and the like".
Campsite in ecologically sensitive coastal area still tolerated
Critics point out that the island harbour of Prerow is not even finished yet and that its exposed location suggests that it cannot be used to the same extent as the former Darßer Ort port of refuge. However, absences of the rescue cruiser on this stretch of coast would mean concrete losses for the protection of human life at sea.
There are also fears that the complex hydraulic engineering of Prerow's island harbour could be regularly damaged during the harsh winter months, which would also restrict its use. Flora and fauna in the area have hardly been affected by the responsible use of the harbour. Finally, it was disproportionate to close the emergency harbour for reasons of nature conservation while the campsite not far from the harbour continued to be tolerated.
