On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Værøy.

The small, uninhabited island of Mosken lies a short distance north of Værøya.

About 95% of the island's residents live in Sørland, which is also the administrative centre of the municipality.

[3] The Norwegian Lundehund was a dog used in Værøya to hunt puffins on the narrow cliffs on the island.

An 840 hectares (2,100 acres) area consisting of vertical cliffs and steep grassy slopes on the south-west peninsula of the island, along with the Måstadfjellet nature reserve and adjacent marine waters, has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports large breeding colonies of about 40,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins and 15,000 to 20,000 pairs of black-legged kittiwakes.