The Pomeranian Bay – Rønne Bank Nature Conservation Area

The 2,092 km² Pomeranian Bay – Rønne Bank Nature Conservation Area is located about 20 km east of the island of Rügen. It extends from the reefs of Adler Ground and Rønne Bank in the north and northwest to the seaward border of Germany's coastal waters, where it includes Odra Bank, the largest sandbank in the German Baltic Sea. Every year, the abundance of food in this sizeable protected area, and its ice-free condition, even in cold winters, attract up to half a million sea ducks that rest here and feed to gain fat reserves for their exhausting migration. The interaction within the food web of the Baltic Sea can be observed here in a unique way. The NCA ensures important feeding, resting, reproduction and rearing areas for innumerable threatened species ranging from the smallest benthic organisms and migratory fish to endangered seabird species and marine mammals.

Eisenten (Clangula hyemalis) überwintern zu Zehntausenden in der Ostsee, Foto: Stefan Pfützke / Green-Lens.de — Eisenten überwintern zu Zehntausenden in der Ostsee.

© Stefan Pfützke / Green-Lens.de

Facts Pomeranian Bay – Rønne Bank Nature Conservation Area

Natura 2000 site placed under national protection as an NCA in 2017
Fact sheet	HD site Western Rønne Bank EU Code: DE 1249-301 HD site Adler Ground EU Code: DE 1251-301 HD site Pomeranian Bay with Odra Bank EU Code: DE 1652-301 SPA Pomeranian Bay EU-Code: DE 1552-401
Habitat types	Sandbanks	approx. 567 km²
	Reefs	approx. 175 km²
Species/Numbers	Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) population of the central Baltic Sea	Overwintering and migration habitat (total population in central Baltic Sea only about 500 individuals)
	Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus)	Used as migration and feeding habitat
	Twait shad (Alosa fallax)	Recorded
	Baltic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus)	Recorded; reintroduction possible. (See: Wiederansiedlung des Störs)
	Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis)	100,000 in winter (2013)
	Red-throated and black-throated diver (Gavia stellata, Gavia arctica)	3,000 in spring (2013)

Pomeranian Bay – Rønne Bank complex area

The Pomeranian Bay – Rønne Bank Nature Conservation Area is a complex area, where different protection regimes border on each other or overlap in some cases. This area unifies the European Natura 2000 sites protected by the Habitats Directive (HD) and the Birds Directive (BD). The individual sections corresponding to a HD site or bird protection area (SPA - Special Protection Area) are described as (sub)areas in the Protected Area Ordinance for this complex area.

The HD subarea Western Rønne Bank is denoted as Area I, the HD site Adler Ground as Area II, and the HD site Pomeranian Bay with Odra Bank as Area III. The Pomeranian Bay SPA corresponds to Area IV and overlaps with Areas II and III.

The complex area of around 2,000 km² extends from the reefs of the Adler Ground to the seaward border of the coastal sea and includes the Oder Bank as the largest sandbank in the German Baltic Sea. The abundance of food in these structures and the absence of ice, even in cold winters, attract up to half a million sea ducks and other seabirds that rest or moult here. The nature conservation area is an important resting and feeding site for the highly endangered harbour porpoises of the central Baltic Sea.