[2] Since 1996, the nature reserve has had the status of a Ramsar site because of its importance for migratory birds.

The Mellandsvågen Wildlife Sanctuary (Norwegian: Mellandsvågen dyrefredningsområde), which measures 12.2 square kilometers (4.7 sq mi), was created at the same time as a buffer zone in the land and sea area south and west of the nature reserve.

The dominant landscape type is a large, well-developed, and diverse beach meadow community, especially south of Livsneset and around Storholmen.

There are no species on the national red list, but many of them are regionally rare or endangered: herbaceous seepweed (Suaeda maritima), Ray's knotweed (Polygonum oxyspermum subsp.

Amateur ornithologists from Hemne Municipality have been carrying out winter counts of birds in the reserve for several years.