The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the largest and deepest seas in Russia. There are important sea routes connecting Vladivostok with the northern regions. Far East and the Kuril Islands. Major ports on the coast of the mainland - Magadan and Okhotsk; on Sakhalin Island - Korsakov; on the Kuril Islands - Severo-Kurilsk.
The Sea of Okhotsk was discovered by Russian explorers I. Yu. Moskvitin and V. D. Poyarkov in the first half of the 17th century. From 1733, work began on the Second Kamchatka Expedition, whose members made up detailed maps almost all of its coasts.
The Sea of Okhotsk, also called the Lamsky or Kamchatka Sea, is a semi-enclosed sea in the northwestern part Pacific Ocean. It washes the shores of Russia and Japan (Hokkaido Island).
From the west, it is bounded by the mainland Asia from Cape Lazarev to the mouth of the Penzhina River; from the north - the Kamchatka Peninsula; from the east by the islands of the Kuril chain and from the south by the islands of Hokkaido and Sakhalin.
The Sea of Okhotsk is connected to the Pacific Ocean through the Kuril Straits. There are more than 30 such straits and their total width is more than 500 kilometers. It has communication with the Sea of Japan through the Nevelskoy and La Perouse straits.
Characteristics of the Sea of Okhotsk
The sea is named after the river Okhota, which flows into it. The area of the Sea of Okhotsk is 1,603,000 square kilometers. Its average depth is 1780 meters, with a maximum depth of 3916 meters. From north to south, the sea stretches for 2445 kilometers, and from east to west for 1407 kilometers. The approximate volume of water enclosed in it is 1365 thousand cubic kilometers.
The coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk is slightly indented. Its length is 10460 kilometers. Its largest bays are: Shelikhov Bay, Sakhalin Bay, Udskaya Bay, Tauyskaya Bay and Academy Bay. The northern, northwestern and northeastern shores are high and rocky. At the confluence of large rivers (Amur, Uda, Okhota, Gizhiga, Penzhina), as well as in the west of Kamchatka, in the northern part of Sakhalin and Hokkaido, the coasts are predominantly low.
From October to May-June, the northern part of the sea is covered with ice. The southeastern part practically does not freeze. In winter, the water temperature near the sea surface ranges from -1.8 °C to 2.0 °C, in summer the temperature rises to 10-18 °C.
The salinity of the surface waters of the Sea of Okhotsk is 32.8-33.8 ppm, while the salinity of coastal waters usually does not exceed 30 ppm.
Climate of the Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk is located in the monsoon climate zone of temperate latitudes. For most of the year, cold dry winds blow from the mainland, cooling the northern half of the sea. From October to April, negative air temperatures and a stable ice cover are observed here.
In the northeastern part of the sea, the average temperature in January - February ranges from -14 to -20 ° C. In the northern and western regions, the temperature varies from -20 to -24 ° C. In the southern and eastern parts of the sea, it is much warmer in winter from -5 up to - 7 ° С.
Average temperatures in July and August, respectively, wound 10-12 ° C; 11-14°C; 11-18 ° C. The annual amount of precipitation in different places of the Sea of Okhotsk is also different. So in the north, 300-500 mm of precipitation falls annually; in the west up to 600-800 mm; in the southern and southeastern parts of the sea - over 1000 mm.
According to the composition of organisms living in the Sea of Okhotsk, it is more of an arctic character. Types of temperate band, due to thermal effects ocean waters, inhabited mainly by the southern and southeastern parts of the sea.
Numerous settlements of mussels, littorinas and other mollusks, barnacles, sea urchins, and many crabs are noted in coastal zones.
A rich fauna of invertebrates has been discovered at great depths of the Sea of Okhotsk. Glass sponges, holothurians, deep-sea corals, decapods live here.
The Sea of Okhotsk is rich in fish. The most valuable are salmon species: chum salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon, chinook salmon and sockeye salmon. There is an industrial catch of herring, pollock, flounder, cod, navaga, capelin and smelt.
Large mammals live in the Sea of Okhotsk - whales, seals, sea lions and fur seals. There are many sea birds that arrange noisy "bazaars" on the coasts.
The UN recognized the enclave of the Sea of Okhotsk as part of the Russian shelf
Inessa Dotsenko
UN Boundary Commission continental shelf recognized the enclave of the Sea of Okhotsk with an area of 52,000 square kilometers as part of the Russian continental shelf.
According to ITAR-TASS, this was stated by the Minister natural resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Sergey Donskoy.
We have officially received a document from the UN Commission on the Continental Shelf on the satisfaction of our application to recognize the enclave in the Sea of Okhotsk as the Russian shelf. This is an event that has actually taken place, so I would like to congratulate everyone on this,” he said.
The commission's decision, according to the minister, is unconditional and has no retroactive effect. Now the enclave is fully subject to Russian jurisdiction.
According to ITAR-TASS, Donskoy also said that Russia's application for the expansion of the continental shelf in the Arctic will be ready this fall.
All the resources that will be found there - everything will be mined exclusively within the framework of Russian legislation, - said Donskoy. He said that, according to geologists, the total volume of hydrocarbons discovered in this area exceeds one billion tons.
Magadan Governor Vladimir Pecheny believes that the recognition of the enclave in the middle of the Sea of Okhotsk as part of the Russian continental shelf opens up new prospects for the economy of Kolyma and the entire Far East. First of all, it will relieve the fishermen of the region from numerous administrative barriers.
Firstly, fishing for fish, crabs, shellfish can be carried out freely anywhere in the Sea of Okhotsk. Special permits from the border service will not be required both when going to sea and upon returning. Secondly, when not only the 200-mile zone, but the whole sea becomes Russian territory, we will get rid of poaching by foreign fishermen in our waters. It will be easier to keep the unique environment, - the press service of the government of the region quotes the words of Baked.
Reference
In the center of the Sea of Okhotsk there is an elongated enclave of considerable size. Previously, all of it was considered "open sea". Vessels of any state could freely move and fish on its territory. In November 2013, Russia managed to prove the rights to 52,000 square kilometers of water in the center of the Sea of Okhotsk. For comparison, this is more than the area of Holland, Switzerland or Belgium. The center of the Sea of Okhotsk ceased to be part of the World Ocean and became completely Russian. After approval at the UN session, the process of legally assigning the enclave to the Russian continental shelf can be considered fully completed.
This natural reservoir is considered one of the deepest and largest in Russia. The coolest Far Eastern sea is located between the waters of the Bering and the Sea of Japan.
The Sea of Okhotsk divides the territories Russian Federation and Japan and is the most important port point for our country.
After reviewing the information in the article, you can learn about the richest resources of the Sea of Okhotsk and the history of the formation of the reservoir.
About the title
Previously, the sea had other names: Kamchatskoe, Lamskoe, Hokkai among the Japanese.
The current name of the sea was given by the name of the Okhota River, which in turn comes from the Even word "okat", which translates as "river". The former name (Lamskoe) also came from the Even word "lam" (translated as "sea"). Hokkai literally translates to "North Sea" in Japanese. However, due to the fact that this Japanese name now refers to the North Sea Atlantic Ocean, its name was changed to Ohotsuku-kai, which is an adaptation of the Russian name to the norms of Japanese phonetics.
Geography
Before proceeding to the description of the richest resources of the Sea of Okhotsk, we briefly present it geographical position.
The reservoir, located between the Bering and the Seas of Japan, strongly goes into the land of the mainland. The arc of the Kuril Islands separates the waters of the sea from the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The reservoir has for the most part natural boundaries, and its conditional boundaries are with the Sea of Japan.
The Kuriles, which are about 3 dozen small areas of land and separating the ocean from the sea, are located in a seismically hazardous zone due to the presence of a large number of volcanoes on them. In addition, the waters of these two natural reservoirs are separated by the island of Hokkaido and Kamchatka. The largest island in the Sea of Okhotsk is Sakhalin. The largest rivers flowing into the sea are Amur, Okhota, Bolshaya and Penzhina.
Description
The area of the sea is approximately 1603 thousand square meters. km, the volume of water - 1318 thousand cubic meters. km. The maximum depth is 3916 meters, the average is 821 m. The type of sea is mixed, continental-marginal.
Several bays pass along the rather even coastal boundary of the reservoir. The northern part of the coast is represented by many rocks and rather sharp cliffs. Storm is a frequent and quite common occurrence for this sea.
Features of nature and all resources of the Sea of Okhotsk are partly related to climate conditions and unusual terrain.
For the most part, the seashores are rocky and high. From the sea, from afar on the horizon, they are distinguished by black stripes, framed on top by brownish green spots of sparse vegetation. Only in some places (the western coast of Kamchatka, the northern part of Sakhalin), the coastline is low, fairly wide areas.
The bottom in some respects is similar to the bottom of the Sea of Japan: in many places there are hollows under water, which indicate that the area of \u200b\u200bthe current sea in the Quaternary period was above sea level, and huge rivers flowed in this place - Penzhina and Amur.
Sometimes, during earthquakes, waves appear in the ocean, reaching several tens of meters in height. Related to this is an interesting historical fact. In 1780, one of these waves during an earthquake deep into the island of Urup (300 meters from the coast) brought the ship "Natalia", which remained on land. This fact is confirmed by the record preserved from those times.
Geologists believe that the territory of the eastern part of the sea is one of the most "troubled" areas on the globe. And today quite large movements of the earth's crust are taking place here. In this part of the ocean, underwater earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are often observed.
A bit of history
The rich natural resources of the Sea of Okhotsk began to attract the attention of people from its very discovery, which occurred during the first campaigns of the Cossacks to the Pacific Ocean through Siberia. It was then called the Lam Sea. Then, after the discovery of Kamchatka, trips by sea and coast to this richest peninsula and to the mouth of the river. Penzhins have become more frequent. In those days, the sea already bore the names Penzhinskoe and Kamchatskoe.
After leaving Yakutsk, the Cossacks moved east not straight through the taiga and mountains, but along the winding rivers and channels between them. Such a caravan path eventually led them to a river called the Hunt, and along it they were already moving to the seashore. That is why this reservoir was named Okhotsk. Since then, many significant and important large centers have arisen on the sea coast. The name that has survived since then testifies to the important historical role ports and rivers, from which people began the development of this huge, richest sea area.
Features of nature
The natural resources of the Sea of Okhotsk are quite attractive. This is especially true for the regions of the Kuril Islands. This is a very special world, consisting of a total of 30 large and small islands. This range also includes rocks of volcanic origin. Today, there are active volcanoes on the islands (about 30), which clearly indicates that the bowels of the earth are restless here and now.
Some islands have underground hot springs (temperature up to 30-70°C), many of which have healing properties.
Very severe climatic conditions for life on the Kuril Islands (especially in the northern part). Here long time mists persist, and in winter very often strong storms arise.
Rivers
Many rivers, mostly small ones, flow into the Sea of Okhotsk. This is the reason for the relatively small continental flow (about 600 cubic km per year) of water into it, and about 65% of it belongs to the Amur River.
Other relatively large rivers are the Penzhina, Uda, Okhota, Bolshaya (in Kamchatka), which carry a much smaller volume of fresh water into the sea. Water flows to a greater extent in spring and early summer.
Fauna
The biological resources of the Sea of Okhotsk are very diverse. This is the most biologically productive sea in Russia. It provides 40% of domestic and more than half of the Far Eastern catches of fish, crustaceans and mollusks. At the same time, it is believed that the biological potential of the sea is underutilized today.
A huge variety of depths and bottom topography, hydrological and climatic conditions in certain parts of the sea, a good supply of fish food - all this determined the richness of the ichthyofauna of these places. The northern part of the sea contains 123 species of fish in its waters, the southern part - 300 species. Approximately 85 species are endemic. This sea is a real paradise for lovers of sea fishing.
Fishing, seafood production and production of salmon caviar are actively developing on the territory of the sea. The inhabitants of the sea waters of this region: pink salmon, chum salmon, cod, sockeye salmon, flounder, coho, pollock, herring, saffron cod, chinook salmon, squid, crabs. On the Shantar Islands, hunting (limited) for fur seals is carried out, and the extraction of kelp, mollusks and sea urchins is also becoming popular.
Of the animals, the white whale, seal and seal are of particular commercial value.
Flora
The resources of the Sea of Okhotsk are inexhaustible. Vegetable world reservoir: in the northern part, arctic species predominate, in the southern part - to a greater extent, species of the temperate region. Plankton (larvae, mollusks, crustaceans, etc.) provides abundant food for fish throughout the year. The phytoplankton of the sea is represented mainly by diatoms, and the bottom flora contains many species of red, brown and green algae, as well as extensive meadows of sea grass. In total, the composition of the coastal flora of the Sea of Okhotsk includes about 300 species of vegetation.
In comparison with the Bering Sea, the benthic fauna here is more diverse, and in comparison with the Sea of Japan, it is less rich. The main food fields for deep-sea fish are the northern shallow waters, as well as the East Sakhalin and western Kamchatka shelves.
Mineral resources
The mineral resources of the Sea of Okhotsk are especially rich. Only the water of the sea contains almost all the elements of the table of D. I. Mendeleev.
The bottom of the sea has exceptional reserves of globigerin and diamond silts, consisting mainly of shells of unicellular tiny algae and protozoa. Sludge is a valuable raw material for the production of insulating building materials and high quality cement.
The shelf of the sea is also promising for prospecting for hydrocarbon deposits. The rivers of the Aldan-Okhotsk watershed and the lower reaches of the Amur have long been famous for placers of valuable metals, which indicates that there is a possibility of finding underwater ore deposits in the sea. Perhaps there are still many unexplored raw materials in the Sea of Okhotsk.
It is known that the lower shelf horizons and part of the continental slope adjoining them are enriched in phosphorite concretions. There is another more realistic prospect - the extraction of rare elements contained in the bone remains of mammals and fish, and such accumulations are found in deep-sea sediments of the Yuzhno-Okhotsk basin.
It is impossible to remain silent about amber. The very first finds of this mineral on the eastern coast of Sakhalin date back to the middle of the 19th century. At that time, representatives of the Amur expedition worked here. It should be noted that Sakhalin amber is very beautiful - it is perfectly polished, cherry-red and highly appreciated by experts. The largest pieces of wood fossil resin (up to 0.5 kg) were discovered by geologists near the village of Ostromysovsky. Amber is also found in the oldest deposits of the Taigonos Peninsula, as well as in Kamchatka.
Conclusion
In short, the resources of the Sea of Okhotsk are extremely rich and diverse, it is impossible to list all of them, let alone describe them.
Today, the importance of the Sea of Okhotsk in the national economy is determined by the use of its richest natural resources and sea transportation. The main wealth of this sea are game animals, primarily fish. However, today it is enough high level The danger of pollution of the commercial zones of the sea with oil products as a result of discharges of oily waters by fishing vessels creates a situation that requires certain measures to increase the level of environmental safety of the work being carried out.
Map of the Sea of Okhotsk - water temperature of the Sea of Okhotsk
The water temperature on the sea surface decreases from south to north. In winter, almost everywhere, the surface layers cool down to a freezing temperature of –1.5...–1.8°C. Only in the southeastern part of the sea does it stay around 0°C, and near the northern Kuril Straits, under the influence of Pacific waters, the water temperature reaches 1–2°C.
Spring warming at the beginning of the season mainly goes to the melting of ice, only towards the end of it does the water temperature begin to rise.
In summer, the distribution of water temperature on the sea surface is quite diverse. In August, the waters adjacent to the island of Hokkaido are warmest (up to 18–19°C). In the central regions of the sea, the water temperature is 11–12°С. The coldest surface waters are observed near Iona Island, near Cape Pyagin and near the Kruzenshtern Strait. In these areas, the water temperature is kept in the range of 6-7°C. The formation of local centers of increased and decreased water temperature on the surface is mainly associated with the redistribution of heat by currents.
The vertical distribution of water temperature varies from season to season and from place to place. In the cold season, the change in temperature with depth is less complex and varied than in warm seasons.
In winter, in the northern and central regions of the sea, water cooling extends to horizons of 500–600 m. The water temperature is relatively uniform and varies from –1.5 ... 600 m, deeper it rises to 1–0°С, in the southern part of the sea and near the Kuril Straits, the water temperature drops from 2.5–3°С on the surface to 1–1.4°С at horizons of 300–400 m and further gradually rises to 1.9–2.4°C in the bottom layer.
In summer, surface waters are warmed up to a temperature of 10–12°С. In the subsurface layers, the water temperature is slightly lower than on the surface. A sharp drop in temperature to –1...–1.2°C is observed between horizons of 50–75 m, deeper, to horizons of 150–200 m, the temperature quickly rises to 0.5–1°C, and then it rises more smoothly , and at the horizons of 200–250 m it is 1.5–2°С. Further, the temperature of the water almost does not change to the bottom. In the southern and southeastern parts of the sea, along the Kuril Islands, the water temperature drops from 10–14°C at the surface to 3–8°C at a 25 m horizon, then to 1.6–2.4°C at a 100 m horizon. and up to 1.4–2°C near the bottom. The vertical temperature distribution in summer is characterized by a cold intermediate layer. In northern and central regions
sea temperature in it is negative, and only near the Kuril Straits does it have positive values. In different areas of the sea, the depth of the cold intermediate layer is different and varies from year to year.
The sea has predominantly natural boundaries and is only separated from the waters by conditional boundaries. The Sea of Okhotsk is a fairly large and deep sea in our country. Its area is about 1603 thousand km2, the volume of water is 1318 thousand km3. The average depth of this sea is 821 m, the maximum depth is 3916 m. According to its features, this sea is a marginal sea of a mixed continental-marginal type.
There are few islands in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, among which the largest is. The Kuril ridge consists of 30 different in size. Their location is seismically active. There are more than 30 active and 70 extinct ones here. Seismic activity zones can be located both on islands and under water. If the epicenter is under water, then huge ones rise.
The coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, with a considerable length, is quite equal. There are many large bays along the coastline: Aniva, Patience, Sakhalin, Academies, Tugursky, Ayan and Shelikhov. There are also several lips: Tauiskaya, Gizhiginskaya and Penzhinskaya.
Sea of Okhotsk
The bottom is a wide range of different underwater elevations,. The northern part of the sea is located on the continental shelf, which is a continuation of the land. In the western zone of the sea there is a shoal of Sakhalin, located near the island. In the east of the Sea of Okhotsk is Kamchatka. Only a small part is located in the shelf zone. A significant part of the water expanses is located on the continental slope. The depth of the sea here varies from 200 m to 1500 m.
The southern edge of the sea is the deepest zone, the maximum depth here is more than 2500 m. This part of the sea is a kind of bed, which is located along the Kuril Islands. The southwestern part of the sea is characterized by deep depressions and slopes, which is not characteristic of the northeastern part.
In the central zone of the sea there are two hills: the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Institute of Oceanology. These elevations divide the sea underwater space into 3 basins. The first basin is the northeastern TINRO basin, which is located to the west of Kamchatka. This depression is distinguished by small depths, about 850 m. The bottom has. The second basin is the Deryugin depression, located to the east of Sakhalin, the water depth here reaches 1700 m. The bottom is a plain, the edges of which are somewhat elevated. The third basin is the Kuril. It is the deepest (about 3300 m). is a plain that extends 120 miles in the western part, and 600 miles in the northeast.
The Sea of Okhotsk is under the influence of . The main source of cold air is located in the west. This is due to the fact that the western part of the sea is strongly cut into the mainland and is located not far from the Asian cold pole. From the east, the relatively high mountain ranges of Kamchatka impede the advance of the warm Pacific. The greatest amount of heat comes from the waters of the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan through the southern and southeastern borders. But the influence of cold air masses dominates over warm air masses, therefore, in general, the Sea of Okhotsk is quite severe. The Sea of Okhotsk is the coldest in comparison with the Sea of Japan.
Sea of Okhotsk
During the cold period (which lasts from October to April), the Siberian and Aleutian lows have a significant effect on the sea. As a result, winds from the northern and northwestern directions prevail in the Sea of Okhotsk. The power of these winds often reaches storm strength. Especially strong winds are observed in January and February. Their average speed is about 10 - 11 m/s.
In winter, the cold Asian monsoon contributes to a strong decrease in the northern and northwestern parts of the sea. In January, when the temperature reaches its minimum limit, on average, the air cools down to -20-25°С in the northwestern part of the sea, to -10-15°С in the central part and to -5-6°С in the southeastern part. In the last zone, the influence of warm Pacific air is felt.
In autumn and winter, the sea is under the influence of continental. This leads to increased wind, and in some cases to cooling. In general, it can be described as clear with reduced. On those climatic features influenced by cold Asian air. In April-May, the Siberian anticyclone ceases to operate, and the influence of the Honolulu maximum increases. In this regard, during the warm period, small southeast winds are observed, the speed of which rarely exceeds 6–7 m/s.
In summer, there are different temperatures depending on. In August, the highest temperature is recorded in the southern part of the sea, it is +18°C. In the central part of the sea, the temperature drops to 12-14°C. The northeast has the coldest summer, the average temperature does not exceed 10-10.5°C. In this period southern part The sea is subject to numerous oceanic cyclones, due to which the strength of the wind increases, and storms rage for 5-8 days.
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk carries its waters a large number of rivers, but they are mostly small. In this regard, it is small, it is about 600 km 3 during the year. , Penzhina, Okhota, Bolshaya - the largest flowing into the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk. Fresh waters have little effect on the sea. The waters of the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean have great importance for the Sea of Okhotsk.
Most of the Sea of Okhotsk outside the territorial waters of Russia and Japan belongs to the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Russia, with the exception of a small part adjacent to the island of Hokkaido and belonging to the Japanese EEZ, as well as a narrow enclave in the central part of the sea, which is located at a distance of more than than 200 nautical miles from all coasts. The specified enclave, completely surrounded by the EEZ of the Russian Federation, at the request of Russia and the subsequent decision of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf of March 14, 2014, was assigned to the continental shelf of Russia, due to which the Russian Federation has exclusive rights to subsoil and seabed resources in this part (but not overlying waters and the airspace above them); there are sometimes erroneous statements in the media that the Sea of Okhotsk is entirely Russian internal waters.
Hydrography
The area is 1603 thousand km². The average depth is 821 m, the maximum depth is 3916 m. The western part of the sea is located above a gentle continuation of the continent and has a shallow depth. In the center of the sea are the Deryugin depressions (in the south) and the TINRO depression. In the eastern part there is the Kuril Basin , where the depth is maximum . From October to May - June, the northern part of the sea is covered with ice. The southeastern part practically does not freeze. The coast in the north is heavily indented, in the northeast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk there is its largest bay - Shelikhov Bay. Of the smaller bays in the northern part, the most famous are the Eiriney Bay and the bays of Shelting, Zabiyaka, Babushkina, and Kekurny. In the east, the coastline of the Kamchatka Peninsula is practically devoid of bays. To the west, the coastline is heavily indented, forming the Sakhalin Bay and the Shantar Sea. In the south, the largest are Aniva and Patience bays, Odessa Bay on Iturup Island. The rivers Amur, Okhota, Kukhtui flow into it. The Amur River brings about 370 billion cubic meters of water per year, which is 65% of the flow of all rivers flowing into the sea.
hydronym
The Sea of Okhotsk is named after the Okhota River, which in turn comes from Evensk. okat - "river". Previously it was called Lamsky (from the Evensk lam - “sea”), as well as the Kamchatka Sea. The Japanese traditionally called this sea the Hokkai (北海), literally "North Sea". But since now this name refers to the North Sea of the Atlantic Ocean, they changed the name of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk to Ohotsuku-kai (オホーツク海), which is an adaptation of the Russian name to the norms of Japanese phonetics.
Legal regime
Western sector of the Sea of Okhotsk from a height of 5100 m, from the board of the An-26-100, flight Khabarovsk - Okhotsk
The water area of the Sea of Okhotsk consists of internal waters, the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone of two coastal states - Russia and Japan. According to its international legal status, the Sea of Okhotsk is closest to a semi-enclosed sea (Article 122 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea), since it is surrounded by two or more states and mainly consists of a territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone of two states, but it is not such, since connected to the rest of the world's oceans not by a single narrow passage, but by a series of passages. In the central part of the sea at a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines in the area with coordinates 50°42′ N. sh. - 55°42′ s. sh. and 148°30'E. d. - 150°44′ E e. there is a section elongated in the meridional direction, traditionally referred to in English literature as Peanut Hole, which is not included in the exclusive economic zone and is an open sea outside the jurisdiction of Russia; in particular, any country in the world has the right to fish here and conduct other activities permitted by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, excluding activities on the shelf. Since this region is an important element for the reproduction of the population of some species of commercial fish, the governments of some countries expressly prohibit their vessels from fishing in this area of the sea.
On November 13-14, 2013, a subcommittee established within the framework of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf agreed with the arguments of the Russian delegation as part of the consideration of the application of the Russian Federation to recognize the bottom of the above section of the high seas as a continuation of the Russian continental shelf. On March 15, 2014, the 33rd session of the Commission in 2014 adopted a positive decision on the Russian application, first filed in 2001, and filed in a new edition in early 2013, and the central part of the Sea of Okhotsk outside the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation was recognized as the continental shelf Russia. Consequently, in the central part, other states are prohibited from extracting "sedentary" biological resources (for example, crab, mollusks) and developing subsoil. Catching other biological resources, such as fish, is not subject to the restrictions of the continental shelf. Consideration of the application on the merits became possible due to the position of Japan, which, by an official note dated May 23, 2013, confirmed its consent to the consideration by the Commission of the essence of the application without regard to resolving the issue of the Kuril Islands.
temperature and salinity
In the cold season, more than half of the sea surface is covered with ice for 6-7 months. In winter, the water temperature at the sea surface ranges from -1.8 to 2.0 °C, in summer the temperature rises to 10-18 °C.
Below the surface layer, at a depth of about 50-150 meters, there is an intermediate cold layer of water, the temperature of which does not change during the year and is about −1.7 °C.
The waters of the Pacific Ocean entering the sea through the Kuril Straits form deep water masses with a temperature of 2.5-2.7 ° C (at the very bottom - 1.5-1.8 ° C). In coastal areas with significant river runoff, the water temperature is around 0 °C in winter and 8-15 °C in summer.
Incident in December 2010 - January 2011
From December 30, 2010 to January 31, 2011, a rescue operation was carried out in the Sea of Okhotsk, which received extensive media coverage.
The operation itself was large-scale, according to the Deputy Minister of Transport Viktor Olersky and the head of the Federal Agency for Fishery Andrei Krainy, rescue operations on such a scale have not been carried out in Russia for 40 years.
The cost of the operation amounted to an amount in the range of 150-250 million rubles, 6600 tons of diesel fuel were spent on it.
15 ships, on which there were about 700 people, were captured by ice.
The operation was carried out by the forces of the icebreaking flotilla: the icebreakers "Admiral Makarov" and "Krasin", the icebreaker "Magadan" and the tanker "Victoria" worked as auxiliary vessels. The coordination headquarters of the rescue operation was in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the work was carried out under the leadership of the Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Viktor Olersky.
Most of the ships got out on their own, the icebreakers rescued four ships: the Cape Elizabeth trawler, the Professor Kizevetter research vessel (first half of January, Admiral Makarov), the Coast of Hope refrigerator and the Sodruzhestvo floating base.
The second liberated ship was the Professor Kizevetter, whose captain, as a result of the investigation, was deprived of his diploma for six months.
In the area of January 14, the icebreakers gathered together the remaining ships in distress, after which the icebreakers escorted both vessels of the caravan on a coupler.
After the “mustache” of the “Commonwealth” broke off, it was decided to first drive a refrigerator through heavy ice.
The wiring was suspended in the region on January 20 due to weather conditions, but on January 24, the Coast of Hope refrigerator was brought to clean water.
On January 26, the towing "whiskers" broke again, we had to lose time for the delivery of new ones by helicopter.
On January 31, the Sodruzhestvo floating base was also taken out of ice captivity, the operation ended at 11:00 Vladivostok time.
In culture
- The two-part Australian documentary film "The Wild Sea of Russia" (eng. Russia's Wild Sea,) is dedicated to the Sea of Okhotsk.
Notes
- Sea of Okhotsk (physical map, scale 1:5,000,000)// National Atlas of Russia. - M.: Roskartografiya, 2004. - T. 1. - S. 286-287. - 496 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 5-85120-217-3.
- Old maps of Russian cities - from ancient times to the present day (indefinite) . www.retromap.ru Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- Revised partial submission of the Russian Federation to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in respect of the continental shelf in the Sea of Okhotsk. Part 1. Summary (indefinite) . www.un.org. 2013.
- The UN Commission included the enclave in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian continental shelf (Russian). news.un.org. Retrieved April 10, 2019.. UN news. March 14, 2014.
- The Sea of Okhotsk is our everything (indefinite) . // rg.ru. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- Dobrovolsky A. D., Zalogin B. S. Seas of the USSR. M.: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1982. With ill., 192 p.
- (Russian). www.wdcb.ru. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
- A.I.Alekseev, V.A.Nizovtsev, E.V.Kim, G.Ya.Lisenkova, V.I.Sirotin. Geography of Russia. economy and geographical areas. Grade 9 / A.I. Alekseev. - 15th, stereotypical. - Moscow: Bustard, 2014. - S. 254-255.