Sevan

Sevan National Park was established in 1978 in eastern Armenia and protects some 1,500 km² around the lake of the same name, at an altitude of about 1,900 metres. It is one of the largest high-altitude freshwater lakes in the world and covers around 5% of the surface of Armenia.

The lake has undergone one of the most drastic hydrological alterations documented in Europe. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, the Soviet policy of hydroelectric and irrigation development drained Sevan on a massive scale: its level fell by some nineteen metres and it lost close to 40% of its volume, with serious consequences for water quality and for its ecosystem. Since the 1980s transfer tunnels from other basins have been built to recover the level, which has risen by several metres, and the process continues.

That history struck directly at the ishkhan trout, endemic to the lake and with several distinct forms, some already extinct, and at other native species displaced by introduced fish. The Sevanavank peninsula, which before the fall in level was an island, is home to a monastery founded in the year 874 and is one of the most visited places in Armenia. The lake is also a migration stopover and holds the Armenian gull, endemic to the region.