The Montenegrin part of the lake and its surrounding area were declared a national park in 1983. The Albanian part has been designated as a Managed Nature Reserve. In 1996, by Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, it was included in the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance. Near the mouth of Rijeka Crnojevića, below the surface of the water there is a well-preserved wreck of the steamboat "Skanderbeg" sunk by partisans in 1942, during the Second World War.