EASTERN SCHELDE

Schelde also spelled Scheldt, Dutch Oosterschelde, channel extending about 30 miles (50 km) northwestward through the Delta Islands in southwestern Netherlands to the North Sea. A former estuary of the Schelde River (as well as of the Meuse River before completion in 1970 of a dam on the Volkerak Channel), the Eastern Schelde consists of a main southeast-northwest channel between the islands of Tholen (northeast), Noord Beveland (southwest), and Schouwen and Duiveland (northwest) and the former island, now a peninsula, of Zuid Beveland. A smaller northeastern arm of the channel extends northwest of Tholen Island to the Volkerak Channel. The Eastern Schelde is an area of shellfish cultivation (mussels, oysters, shrimp) and a wintering area for geese and other migratory birds. Completed in 1986, the Oosterscheldedam (or Eastern Schelde Dam) at the mouth of the channel is a storm surge barrier that has transformed the channel into a tidal saltwater area. Secondary dams include the Oesterdam in the eastern part of the Eastern Schelde and the Philipsdam in the Volkerak Channel north of Sint Philipsland peninsula. The Oesterdam forms freshwater Lake Zoom and is connected by the Eendracht (Schelde-Rhine Canal) north to the freshwater Volkerak Channel. The dams accommodate road travel and frontage recreation areas. The Zeelandbrug (Zeeland Bridge), extending 16,472 feet (5,022 m) between Schouwen and Duiveland and Noord Beveland, was opened in 1965.