Gillöga och Lilla Nassa - Länsstyrelserna

sheltered areas, typical of sheltered and semi-sheltered archipelago
areas. These sheltered, relatively pristine areas are rare in the Stockholm
archipelago.
• Ecological functions – The bladderwrack communities around the
skerries are important habitats and feeding grounds for crusteceans,
gastropods and fish. Shallow areas are important to many fishes as
spawning grounds and nurseries. The area is likely to be an important
feeding ground for young cod and large herring (Clupea harengus).
• Presence of prioritized habitats – The bladderwrack communities
were extensive and shallow mixed bottoms with vegetation occur in the
Gillöga archipelago.
On the whole, the investigated area in the BSPA Stora Nassa – Svenska
Högarna had a high habitat value. The area is pristine and situated in the
outer archipelago with floral and faunal benthic communities mirroring both
the areas character of outer archipelago, but also more sheltered areas found
nearer the coast. The pristine environment and the variaton in substrate
types and wave exposure, including more or less sheltered shallow areas,
make the area important as habitat and feeding grounds for both fish and
birds. The extensive bladderwrack communities are important habitats and
feeding grounds for fish and other fauna. The macroalgal communities
where species rich, and the fish and benthic fauna reflected the environment.
Although the vascular plant communites were both species poor and sparse,
similar communities have been observed in nearby areas.
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