Data Zone
Country/territory: Iceland
IBA criteria met: A4i, A4iii, B1i, B2, B3 (2015)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 300,000 hectares (3,000.00 km2)
Site description (2000 baseline)
A very large area of coastal waters off western Iceland, containing thousands of islands and islets. The bay is rather shallow and there are extensive intertidal areas adjoining the heavily indented coastline. Habitat also includes marshes and grassland on some of the islands. Land-uses include seaweed-harvesting, exploitation of seals (Phocidae), eider husbandry (Somateria mollissima), traditional harvesting of eggs of Rissa tridactyla, Sterna paradisaea and Larus marinus, chicks of Phalacrocorax aristotelis and P. carbo, and adults of Fratercula arctica, and net-fishing for lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus.
Key biodiversity
The site supports huge numbers of breeding seabirds; Fulmarus glacialis is common but does not meet criteria.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Breidafjördur (Iceland). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/breidafjördur-iba-iceland on 22/12/2024.