Sea of Okhotsk full mapSea of Okhotsk seasons winter and summer
The Sea of Okhotsk covers an area of 1,583,000 square kilometres (611,000 sq mi), with a mean depth of 859 metres (2,818 ft) and a maximum depth of 3,372 metres (11,063 ft).[3][4] It is connected to theSea of Japan on either side of Sakhalin: on the west through theSakhalin Gulf and theGulf of Tartary; on the south through theLa Pérouse Strait.
In winter, navigation on the Sea of Okhotsk is impeded byice floes.[5] Ice floes form due to the large amount of freshwater from theAmur River, lowering thesalinity of upper levels, often raising thefreezing point of the sea surface. The distribution and thickness of ice floes depend on many factors: the location, the time of year, water currents, and the sea temperatures.[6]
Cold air from Siberia forms sea ice in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk.[7] As the ice forms, it expels salt into the deeper layers. This heavy water flows east toward the Pacific, carrying oxygen and nutrients, supporting abundant sea life. The Sea of Okhotsk has warmed in some places by as much as 3°C (5.4°F) since preindustrial times, three times faster than the global mean. Warming inhibits the formation of sea ice and also drives fish populations north. Thesalmon catch on the northern Japanese coast has fallen 70% in the last 15 years, while the Russianchum salmon catch has quadrupled.[8]
With the exception ofHokkaido, one of the Japanesehome islands, the sea is surrounded on all sides by territory administered by the Russian Federation. SouthSakhalin and theKuril Islands were administered by Japan until 1945. Japan claims the southern Kuril Islands and refers to them asNorthern Territories.[9]
::On the Southwest. The Northeastern and Northern limits on the Japan Sea [InLa Perouse Strait (Sôya Kaikyô). A line joiningSôni Misaki and Nishi Notoro Misaki (45°55'N). From Cape Tuik (51°45'N) to Cape Sushcheva].
::On the Southeast. A line running fromNosyappu Saki (Cape Noshap, 43°23'N) in the Island ofHokusyû (Yezo) through theKuril or Tisima Islands toCape Lopatka (South point ofKamchatka) in such a way that all the narrow waters between Hokusyû and Kamchatka are included in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large, including Japan's second-largest island, Hokkaido, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. Practically all of the sea's islands are either in coastal waters (such as theShantar Islands) or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islands chain. These fall either under undisputed Japanese or Russian ownership or disputed ownership between Japan and Russia.Iony Island is the only island located in open waters and belongs to theKhabarovsk Krai of theRussian Federation.
The majority of the sea's islands are uninhabited, making them ideal breeding grounds forseals,sea lions,seabirds, and other sea island fauna. Large colonies ofcrested auklets use the Sea of Okhotsk as a nesting site.
Most of the Sea of Okhotsk, labelled here as the Ocho Tzkisches Meer or Tungusisches Meer ("Tungusic Sea"), had been well mapped by 1792, apart fromSakhalin.
TheOkhotsk culture and the laterAinu people, a coastal fishing and hunter-gatherer people, were located around the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as in northern Japan.[11]
Russian explorersVassili Poyarkov (1639) andIvan Moskvitin (1645) were the first Europeans to visit the Sea of Okhotsk,[12] and probably the island of Sakhalin in the 1640s.[13] The Dutch captainMaarten Gerritsz Vries in theBreskens entered the Sea of Okhotsk from the south-east in 1643, and charted parts of the Sakhalin coast and Kuril Islands, but failed to realize that either Sakhalin or Hokkaido are islands. During this period, the sea was sometimes known as theSea of Kamchatka.[14]
The first and foremost Russian settlement on the shore was the port ofOkhotsk, which relinquished commercial supremacy toAyan in the 1840s. TheRussian-American Company all but monopolized the commercial navigation of the sea in the first half of the 19th century.
The Sea of Okhotsk is rich in biological resources, with various kinds of fish, shellfish and crabs.
The harsh conditions of crab fishing in the Sea of Okhotsk are the subject of the most famous novel of the Japanese writerTakiji Kobayashi,The Crab Cannery Ship (1929).
The Peanut Hole (named for its shape) is an area of open ocean at the center of the Sea of Okhotsk, about 55 km (30 mi) wide and 480 km (300 mi) long, surrounded by Russia'sexclusive economic zone (EEZ). Since the Peanut Hole is not in the Russian EEZ, any country could fish there, and some began doing so in large numbers in 1991, catching perhaps as much as one million metric tons ofpollock in 1992. This was seen by the Russian Federation as presenting a danger to Russian fish stocks, since the fishmove in and out of the Peanut Hole from the Russian EEZ.
The Russian Federation petitioned the United Nations to declare the Peanut Hole to be part of Russia'scontinental shelf. In November 2013, a United Nations subcommittee accepted the Russian argument, and in March 2014 the full United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ruled in favor of the Russian Federation.
Bowhead whales were first caught in 1847, and dominated the catch between 1852 and the late 1860s.[15] Between 1850 and 1853 the majority of the fleet went to theBering Strait region to hunt bowheads, but intense competition, poor ice conditions, and declining catches forced the fleet back to the Sea of Okhotsk. From 1854 to 1856, an average of over 160 vessels cruised in the sea each year. As catches declined between 1858 and 1860 the fleet shifted back to the Bering Strait region.[16]
The Russianmilitary marine mammal program reportedly sources some of its animals from the Sea of Okhotsk.[17]
South Sakhalin was administered by Japan asKarafuto Prefecture from 1907 to 1949. The Kuril Islands were Japanese from 1855 and 1875 till the end ofWorld War II in 1945. Afterward, theSoviet Union occupied the territory.
Despite its proximity to Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk has no native etymology in theJapanese language; its name,Ohōtsuku-kai (オホーツク海), is a transcription of the Russian name. This is also reflected in the name of Hokkaido'sOkhotsk Subprefecture, which faces the Sea of Okhotsk and is also known as the Okhotsk region (オホーツク地方,Ohōtsuku-chihō).
Twenty-nine zones of possible oil and gas accumulation have been identified on the Sea of Okhotsk shelf, which runs along the coast. Total reserves are estimated at 3.5 billion tons of equivalent fuel, including 1.2 billion tons of oil and 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas.[19]
On 18 December 2011, the Russian oil drilling rigKolskaya[20][21] capsized and sank in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk, some 124 km (77 mi) from Sakhalin island, where it was being towed fromKamchatka. Reportedly, its pumps failed, causing it to take on water and sink. The platform carried 67 people, of which 14 were rescued by theMagadan and the tugboatNatftogaz-55. The platform was subcontracted to a company working for the Russian energy giantGazprom.[22][23][24]
^Russian:Охотское море,romanized:Okhotskoye more,IPA:[ɐˈxotskəjəˈmorʲe]; Historically also known asЛамутское море,Lamutskoye more, or asКамчатское море,Kamchatskoye more;Japanese:オホーツク海,romanized: Ohōtsuku-kai)
^Bruce A. Elleman, Michael R. Nichols and Matthew J. Ouimet,A Historical Reevaluation of America's Role in the Kuril Islands Dispute, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Winter, 1998–1999), pp. 489–504
^"ウェブマガジン カムイミンタラ ～北海道の風土・文化誌 ：オホーツク文化人とモヨロ貝塚 網走 流氷とともにやってきた古代民族の謎とロマンに魅せられた父子三代と研究者たち" ["Web Magazine Kamuy Mintara ~Hokkaido's Climate and Culture Magazine: Okhotsk Culture and Moyoro Shell Mounds Abashiri Three generations of fathers and sons and researchers fascinated by the mystery and romance of ancient peoples who came along with the drift ice".].kamuimintara.net. Retrieved2019-07-10.
^Vaughan, R. (1984). "Historical survey of the European whaling industry". InArctic Whaling: Proceedings of the International Symposium, pp. 121-145. University of Groningen.
