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.
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