Northern Kattegat (3064)
Denmark, Europe
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: B1, D1a
Year of last assessment: 2000
National site name: Nordlige Kattegat
Central coordinates: Latitude: 57.0000, Longitude: 11.0000
System: marine, terrestrial
Area of KBA (km2): 5893.94206
Protected area coverage (%): 85.14
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: A shallow sea area with a sandy bay, estuaries and a mosaic of hard-bottom banks. The area given here is of the Danish part only; 180,000 ha (17% of the total transboundary area) are within Swedish territory.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for at least one criterion described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs.
Additional biodiversity: This is an exceptionally important area for wintering seaduck and pelagic species (divers and auks), with hundreds of thousands of birds wintering at the site. Seaduck are mainly within Danish waters and the pelagic species mainly in the Swedish part. This is the most important wintering area in north-west Europe for Somateria mollissima (>13% of the north-west European population), Melanitta nigra (>38% of the north-west European population) and Alca torda (>10% of the north-west European population).
Habitats
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Marine Neritic | 100 |
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: The IBA encompasses the seawater areas of six Special Protection Areas and five Ramsar Sites. Furthermore, four offshore Baltic Sea Protected Areas have been proposed, overlapping with, or identical to, existing protected areas.