The Giske Wetlands System () is a Ramsar site located in

Giske Municipality Giske is an island List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality lies north-northwest of the Ålesund (town), town of Ålesund in the Districts of Norway, traditional distr ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It consists of six separate protected areas: two nature reserves and four wildlife sanctuaries. One of the nature reserves lies on the island of

Giske Giske may refer to: Places *Giske Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Giske (island), a island within Giske Municpiality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Giske (village), a village within Giske Municpiality in Møre ...

and the five other areas are located on the island of Vigra in the same municipality. The areas have been protected as a Ramsar site since 1996 because of their importance for

migratory birds Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality. The ...

. There are large shallow areas with

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

s exposed during low tide. A lot of seaweed (

Fucales The Fucales (fucoids) are an order in the brown algae (class Phaeophyceae). The list of families in the Fucales, as well as additional taxonomic information on algae, is publicly accessible at Algaebase. The class Phaeophyceae is included wit ...

and

kelp Kelps are large brown algae or seaweeds that make up the order (biology), order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genus, genera. Despite its appearance and use of photosynthesis in chloroplasts, kelp is technically not a plant but a str ...

) accumulates there, providing good conditions for birds in search of food. There are also marshes, damp beach meadows, and swamps in the wetland system. The six areas are: * The Roaldsand Wildlife Sanctuary, established on May 27, 1988 () * The Rørvikvågen Wildlife Sanctuary, established on May 27, 1988 () * The Rørvikvatnet Nature Reserve, established on May 27, 1988 () * The Giske Wildlife Sanctuary, established on May 27, 1988 () * The Blindheimsvik Wildlife Sanctuary, established on May 27, 1988 () * The Synesvågen Nature Reserve, established on May 27, 1988 ()

References

{{reflist Nature reserves in Norway Ramsar sites in Norway Protected areas of Møre og Romsdal Giske Protected areas established in 1996