The Davis Strait - DCE - Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi

6.2 National nature protection legislation
Only three areas protected according to the Greenland nature protection legislation
are located within the assessment area. However, two of these are
inland sites and will not be affected by offshore oil activities. The third site is
the island of Akilia near Nuuk (Order no. 19 of November 1, 1998), which is
close to the outer coast and protected due to geological interest (Fig. 6.1.1).
No sites within the assessment area are protected as seabird breeding sanctuaries
according to the Bird Protection Executive Order (No. 8 of March 2,
2009). But this order also states, that in general, all seabird breeding colonies
are protected from disturbing activities (cf. the maps showing the seabird
breeding colonies within the assessment area (Fig. 4.7.1 and 4.7.2). According
to the Mineral Extraction Law, a number of areas are designated as ‘important
to wildlife’ and mineral (and hydrocarbon) exploration activities are
regulated in order to protect wildlife. There are several of these areas important
to wildlife within the assessment area and they also include the most
important seabird breeding colonies. The areas important to wildlife can be
found on this link: http://dmugisweb.dmu.dk/rdimportantareas/.
6.3 Threatened species
Greenland has red-listed (designated according to risk of extinction) six species
of mammals, thirteen species of birds and one species of fish (Tab. 6.3.1)
which may occur in the assessment area (Boertmann 2007), although some
are rare.
A few species have been categorised as ‘Data Deficient’ (DD) in the Greenland
red list and they may become red-listed when additional information is
available. These are bearded seal, harbour porpoise, blue whale and sei
whale. Bottlenose whales, listed as ‘not applicable’ in the Greenland Red List
and ‘Data Deficient’ in the IUCN global Red List may also change status
when additional information is available.
Table 6.3.1. Species and included in the national red list of Greenland (Boertmann 2007).
Species Red list category
Harbour seal Critically endangered (CR)
Walrus Endangered (EN)
Bowhead whale Near threatened (NT)
Beluga whale Critically endangered (CR)
Narwhal Critically endangered (CR)
Great northern diver Near threatened (NT)
Greenland white-fronted goose Endangered (EN)
Common eider Vulnerable (VU)
Harlequin duck Near threatened (NT)
Gyr falcon Vulnerable (VU)
White-tailed eagle Near threatened (NT)
Sabines gull Near threatened (NT)
Black-legged kittiwake Vulnerable (VU)
Ivory gull Vulnerable (VU)
Arctic tern Near threatened (NT)
Thick-billed murre Vulnerable (VU)
Common murre Endangered (EN)
Atlantic puffin Near threatened (NT)
Atlantic salmon* Vulnerable (VU)
* local stock spawning in a single river in Godthåbsfjord.
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