51.5667, 23.8500karst lake
Lake Luky
Луки
- 3.2 m
- Maximum depth
- 2.1 m
- Average depth
- ≈6.75 km²
- Surface area
- 14.46 million m³
- Water volume
Verified dataset
Key facts
Luky is the third largest lake in the park, with an elongated, deeply indented basin of bays and small islands. Together with Peremut it forms a single system, and the Kopaivka river rises here.
Status: Shatsk National Nature Park; the third largest lake in the park (the Luky-Peremut system)
- Area
- ≈6.75 km²
- Maximum depth
- 3.2 m
- Average depth
- 2.1 m
- Shoreline
- 21 km
Water chemistry
calcium bicarbonate
- Total dissolved solids
- 136 mg/L
Ionic composition, mg/dm³
Comparative ionic composition from studies of the Shatsk group.
Ichthyofauna
Fish of the lake
Catch structure of the Luky–Peremut complex, 2010–2018
Introduced / acclimatised
Invasive species
Ecosystem
Flora and birds
Birds
What to know
Lake in detail
- The third largest lake of the group, and the most elongated and most indented basin in the Shatsk lake district.
- Numerous bays, headlands and several small islands, where thousands of birds nest alongside a large swan colony.
- Canals link it to Svitiaz and Ostrivianske and a channel to Peremut; the two are often treated as the single “Luky-Peremut” system.
- The Kopaivka river, a tributary of the Western Bug, rises from the lake.
- Known for a vast carpet of white water lilies stretching hundreds of metres.
- The shores are low, boggy and ringed by quagmire, so walking the shoreline is effectively impossible.
- Highly productive for fish: in the 2010–2018 catches across the Luky-Peremut complex, brown bullhead (50.3%), tench (21.9%) and roach (14.5%) dominated.
History
Chronology
- 1887
After a catastrophic flood, the Svitiaz — Luky canal was cut; the difference in levels moves the water by gravity, and a sluice regulates the flow.
- 1937
The American brown bullhead was introduced to Luky and Liutsymyr, and later spread to the other lakes of the group.
- 1983
Shatsk National Nature Park is created, with the Luky — Peremut system among its protected complexes.
State and recreation
The lake today
Recreation
Recreational fishing from bank and boat under the rules of Shatsk National Nature Park; a closure applies during spawning. Taking eel, a Red Book species, is prohibited.
Rank in the group
Each measure counts only the lakes that report it.
Hydrology
Hydrological connections
The Shatsk lakes are not isolated bodies of water but a connected network. Canals cut between the late nineteenth and the mid twentieth century, along with natural channels, redistribute water between the lakes and the rivers.
Receives water from Svitiaz through a canal with a sluice.
A wide shallow channel; the shared “Luky-Peremut” system.
The Kopaivka, a tributary of the Western Bug, rises from the lake.
Geography and access
Places nearby
All places →village
Zatyshshia
Zatyshshia is a small village beside Lake Luky in the northern part of the Shatsk lake district. Its visitor profile is centred on the lake’s natural setting and a low-key style of travel.
Open profile →village
Pishcha
Pishcha is a border village in the north of the Shatsk community, linked to the Velyke and Male Pishchanske lakes and the Luky–Peremut system. Border-zone rules are particularly relevant here.
Open profile →village
Ostrivia
Ostrivia is a village beside Lake Ostrivianske and the Luky–Peremut lake network. It provides access to a quieter north-western part of the lake district away from the main resort flows.
Open profile →Language note
Editorial scope
This English profile carries the full narrative, chronology and local traditions. Source titles stay in their original language, and the Ukrainian page remains the reference version.
Read the Ukrainian profile →Sources
Source titles are retained in their original language.
- о. Луки [Lake Luky]
- Основні аспекти морфометрії та гідрохімії Шацьких озер [Key aspects of the morphometry and hydrochemistry of the Shatsk lakes] (2020)
- Луки [Luky] (2017)
- Луки (озеро) [Luky (lake)]
- Сучасний стан іхтіофауни Шацького поозер’я [The current state of the fish fauna of the Shatsk lake district] (2021)
- Ліміти використання водних живих ресурсів у водоймах Шацького НПП у 2010 році [Limits on the use of aquatic living resources in the waters of Shatsk National Nature Park in 2010] (2009)
- Шацькі озера — ВУЕ [Shatsk lakes — Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia]
- Ретроспективний огляд формування складу іхтіофауни Шацьких озер [A retrospective review of how the fish fauna of the Shatsk lakes took shape] (2013)
Photo: Бондар ВолодимирCC BY-SA 4.0cropped