vegaøyan world heritage
Bird life at Vega
Due to the importance of Vegaøyan and the wetlands on Vega for various bird species, Vega is listed on Birdlife International list of the most important bird areas in Europe. The large shallow water areas around Vega and the wetlands on the island provides a basis for good food supply for seabirds.
A total of 232 species have been observed in the area. Of these, about 110 are breeding species, which is a high number this far north. The area has good populations of loons and divers, cormorants, Black guillemot and eider. A few years ago, around 2,800 pairs of great cormorants were breeding in Vega, but the number has also been as high as 4,000 pairs. Up to 2,000 pairs of these have bred in Nordvær at Skjærvær which has thus for periods been the world's largest breeding colony of this subspecies.
During the winter, many divers and snorkelers stay in the area. Black guillemot is another abundant breeding bird with two of the country's largest colonies in the pier in Skjærvær and in Bremstein .
Protected areas
The archipelago is an important moulting area for eider ducks and greylag geese. It is also a key staging area for barnacle geese migrating from Scotland to Svalbard in spring.
Several areas in Vegaøyan are protected as bird conservation areas, nature reserves and landscape conservation areas. The protection secures some of the country's most important nesting, breeding and wintering areas for seabirds. Registration of bird life in the archipelago in the 1970s and efforts to protect the areas through the coastal protection plan also formed an important part of the basis for applying for World Heritage status.
Resting place for geese
For several bird species, human activity has played an important role. The traditional haymaking on the small islands created valuable stopover sites for barnacle geese during migration, both northward and southward, as well as for nesting and moulting geese. When the islands were abandoned, these areas disappeared. As a result, the geese began using cultivated land on the main island of Vega instead, which has led to extensive research conducted by NINA since the mid-1980s.
Research has shown that the greylag goose has changed its migration times so much that it is now difficult to hunt it before the autumn migration starts. As a result of this, Helgeland has a regional management plan that has led to somewhat less grazing damage and at the same time better hunting results. Two important measures are early hunting starts and free zones on the island , so that the geese can rest from hunting pressure for parts of the day. The goal is to postpone the migration south in the fall, so that more geese can be shot from the large population.
Source
Vegaøyan World Heritage. Cultural history travel book by Inga E. Næss and Rita Johansen.