Infrastructure

The FLAG area consists of woodland and a large number of lakes and rivers as well as some off-shore islands. This is a coastal region that includes eight municipalities in total. Bräcke, Ånge, Timrå and Sollefteå are inland municipalities with lakes and rivers connected to the coastal waters. Sundsvall, Kramfors, Härnösand, and Örnsköldsvik municipalities have inland lakes and rivers as well as coastal maritime environments.

The Harju FLAG area covers 530km of coastline along the Gulf of Finland and features numerous peninsulas and bays. Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is situated centrally in the area and offers local producers access to a substantial market. Tallinn also draws a relatively young workforce to the area and offers wide-ranging tourism opportunities.

Hiiumaa is a beautiful un-spoilt island in the Baltic sea to the west of Estonia which can be reached in about 90 minutes by ferry from the mainland. The FLAG area consists of Hiiumaa island and a number of small islets surrounding it which together form the county of Hiiu. This county is divided into five municipalities, of which four are part of the FLAG.

The FLAG area comprises a large part of the rural and sparsely populated Mecklenburg Lake District, which is characterised by vast interlinked inland waterways, many of which are protected areas. The fishing activities in the Mecklenburg Lakes follow a longstanding tradition and play an important economic and historical role in the area.

The FLAG area is located south of the coastal city of Rostock and the area of the Baltic Sea – Bad Doberan FLAG area in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It covers the territory of the Guestrow district and is an inland area. The main fishing activities in the region are small-scale inland pond fisheries.

Rügen is an island in the Baltic Sea and the largest in Germany. It is known for its beaches and white chalk cliffs which span coastline of approximately 574 kilometres. The island is also well-known for the Jasmund National Park which his home to primeval beech forests and white-tailed eagles.

Open natural areas, idyllic villages, extensive avenues, castles and manor houses dominate the landscape. The economy of this area traditionally consisted of agriculture, the food industry and tourism.

The FLAG area “Fischereihafen Bremerhaven“refers to the fishery port of Bremen/Bremerhaven. After 100 years of prosperity, the crisis in deep-sea fishing in the 1970´s and 80´s had a significant impact on Europe´s leading destination for landing and processing of fish.

Unusually for Ireland, the FLAG area has a relatively strong urban structure with 22 settlements falling into the aggregate urban area category of over 1,500 inhabitants (14 of which are at close proximity to the coast).

The Archipelago Sea has the world's largest inland sea archipelago; the landscape is dominated by over 22,000 islands and the coastline is 12,000 km long. The FLAG has an area of 14,000 km2 and the sea accounts for more than half of this. The region includes both densely populated cities and sparsely populated rural and island areas. Of the 370,000 inhabitants, 30,000 live on the islands. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Archipelago Sea every year.