The Malesanden and Huse Wildlife Sanctuary ( no, Malesanden og Huse dyrefredningsområde) is located on the east side of

Harøya Harøya is a swampy island in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. At , it is the largest island in the municipality. The island is located between the islands of Finnøya (to the northeast) and Fjørtofta (to the southwest ...

island in the municipality of Ålesund in

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

county, Norway. The area received protection in 1988 "to preserve an important wetland area with its habitat, bird life and other wildlife," according to the conservation regulations. The area consists of a low, wide sandy beach that is a nesting, resting, and overwintering site for various birds: waders, the

common shelduck The common shelduck (''Tadorna tadorna'') is a waterfowl species of the shelduck genus, ''Tadorna''. It is widespread and common in the Euro-Siberian region of the Palearctic, mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; i ...

, and the greylag goose. Waterfowl and seabirds overwinter to such an extent that it is considered to have national or even international importance. The dunes also have botanical interest, especially the dune heath, which is one of three intact ones in the county. The Malesanden and Huse Wildlife Sanctuary is a buffer zone with two subareas covering : the Malesanden Bird Sanctuary ( no, Malesanden fuglefredingsområde) and the Huse Bird Sanctuary ( no, Huse fuglefredingsområde). The wildlife sanctuary is one of six natural areas that were included in the

Harøya Wetlands System The Harøya Wetlands System ( no, Harøya våtmarkssystem) is a Ramsar site located on Harøya island in the municipality of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It consists of six separate protected areas: three nature reserves plus a l ...

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in a ...

site, which was established in 1996.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Mijlø-direktoratet: Malesanden og Huse''. Map and description of the nature reserve.

Miljøverndepartementet. 1987. ''Malesanden og Huse dyrefredningsområde med tilgrendande dyrelivsfreding, Sandøy kommune, Møre og Romsdal fylke''. 1:20,000 map of the wildlife sanctuary.

''Forskrift om vern av Malesanden og Huse fuglefredingsområde med tilgrensande dyrelivsfreding, Sandøy kommune, Møre og Romsdal''. 1988.
Nature reserves in Norway Ramsar sites in Norway Protected areas of Møre og Romsdal Ålesund Protected areas established in 1988