12 Interesting Sea Of Okhotsk Facts You Must Know

Named after the first Russian settlement in the Far East, the Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal waterbody of the western Pacific Ocean. Bounded by Russia’s extensive coastlines and a Japanese island, the water body is crucial for the people living in the region.

The Sea of Okhotsk covers an area of 1.58 million square kilometers and has a coastline of 10,460 km. Its mean depth is 859 meters, while the deepest it can get is up to 3372 meters.

The sea lies between Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan’s Hokkaido Island on the south, Sakhalin Island on the west, and the east Siberian coast along the west and north.

While the popular Sea of Okhotsk is well explored and calls for tourist attraction, many facts aren’t known to us.

Hence, in this article, we will discuss 12 interesting facts about the Sea of Okhotsk.

1. The Sea of Okhotsk is known as the Heart of the Pacific Ocean

The Sea of Okhotsk is accountable for a wider life cycle that affects the Pacific Ocean. The largest ocean in the world is dependent upon the Russian sea for a lot of things.

In fact, it is often referred to as the “heart” of the Pacific Ocean for “pumping” oxygen, cold water, and nutrients to the large water body. The sea ice that forms in the Okhotsk Sea expels enormous amounts of salt into the water, making it some of the densest ocean water on the planet. As the water sinks, it travels east while carrying several key nutrients, iron, and oxygen into the north side of the Pacific.

The Sea of Okhotsk got its name after a small town called Okhotsk. This town was the first ever Russian settlement in the Far East of the country. It is popularly referred to by Okhotskoye More or Ochotskoje More, which is its Russian name. Well, the sea does not have a traditional Japanese name despite its close connections with Japanese territories. Hence, in Japan, it is called by a transcription of its Russian name, Ohōtsuku-kai.

2. The Sea of Okhotsk freezes only in winter

Unlike many other water bodies like the Arctic Sea that remain frozen for almost the entire year, the Sea of Okhotsk only freezes during the winter. This is because the heart of the Pacific Ocean has a lower latitude than any other frozen sea around the northern hemisphere.

There are mainly two reasons why the sea freezes, one of which is the freshwater flowing from the Amur River. The freshwater lowers the salinity of the upper levels, which increases the sea surface’s freezing point. On the other hand, another thing that contributes to the sea’s freezing is the cold air from Siberia. Since it is to the West of Siberia, the areas of the northern hemisphere tend to reach the lowest temperatures.

However, the sea ice formed on the north of Sakhalin, near the Eurasian continent, is carried south by the cold air from Siberia and the East Sakhalin current. It eventually reaches Hokkaido’s Okhotsk coast. Since the drift ice expels salt into the deeper layers, the heavy water flows to the Japanese island, supporting its abundant sea life.

3. Home To Prominent Russian & Japanese Ports

It has several Russian and Japanese Ports, such as the Magadan Port, located at the head of Bukhta Nagayeva in the Sea of Okhotsk. It is the biggest port in the sea and serves the industrial town of Magadan, which lies at the eastern end of the bay. It also has a naval base.

The port handles metal, timber, dry and bulk cargo, containers, perishable items, vehicles, and hazardous materials. This Russian facility is open throughout the year, and ships using it in winter from December till April need the assistance of icebreakers. It handles around 150 ships annually.

Other Russian ports in the sea include Okhotsk, located on the continental Coast, Palana on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Korsakov on Sakhalin Island, and Severo-Kurilsk and Yuzhno-Kurilsk on the Kuril Islands. 

A prominent Japanese port in the Sea of Japan is the Port of Abashiri, a port of entry and the biggest port on the northern coast of Hokkaido.

It serves as the base for the Sea of Okhotsk fishing fleet and deals with significant lumber imports. It also handles containers, project and general cargoes and bulk and break bulk.

The port has five piers and a passenger terminal which receives many cruise ships. Around 800,000 tonnes of cargo are handled annually at the port. Other Japanese Ports in the Sea of Okhotsk include Monbetsu and Wakkanai, both in Hokkaido.

4. A vital maritime trade route in the 17th-18th centuries

The Sea of Okhotsk has been a vital maritime trade route, linking Russia and Japan and enabling the exchange of ideas and goods like fur, fish, and textiles. Russian explorers and traders also explored the region, setting up settlements with local populations.

The Ainu were the indigenous people of Hokkaido and the surrounding areas. They traded with Japanese settlements such as Matsumae, exchanging items like silk, cotton and lacquerware for sea otters and fox pelts. Ainu also acted as intermediaries between the Japanese and Russians and the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands.

5. Used as a Bastion by Soviet Union During Cold War

During the Cold War era, the Soviet Union used the Okhotsk Sea as a bastion for its nuclear submarines and protected them using their attack submarines, surface ships and aircraft.

The U.S. Navy conducted many operations, including Operation Ivy Bells, to look into the Soviet undersea communication cables in the Sea of Okhotsk. 

Today, Russia continues to use this strategic waterbody for its Pacific Fleet to maintain a strong naval presence.

This sea was also the site of the Soviet attack on Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983.

6. Global Warming poses the biggest threat

The sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk keeps the Pacific Ocean fresh and cold through Thermohaline Circulation. The drift ice is beneficial for the marine flora and fauna, alongside the people of the Hokkaido island. The Okhotsk coast of Hokkaido is known for its fish supplies. However, the recent climate change inhibits the formation of sea ice. As a result, the fish population of the southern Sea of Okhotsk is driving north.

Global warming has warmed the Sea of Okhotsk in some places. Since preindustrial times, the overall temperature has decreased to as low as 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Hence, as the drift ice is decreasing, Japanese fishermen are suffering. Reports say that the salmon catch on Japan’s northern coast, especially the Hokkaido, has fallen 70 percent in the last 15 years. Yet, on the contrary, the Russian chum salmon catch has increased by four times as a reaction.

7. Its shelf has around 3.5 billion tons of fuel

According to speculations, scientists identified 29 zones of possible gas and oil accumulation in the sea shelf. The oil accumulation runs along the coast of the sea. The estimate of the total reserves is at approximately 3.5 billion tons of equivalent fuel. This also consists of 1.2 billion tons of oil, alongside 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas.

Back in 2011, a Russian oil drilling rig called Kolskaya sank in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk. Out of 67 people that were on board, only 14 were rescued by an icebreaker and a tugboat.

8. Okhotsk Sea is rich in marine flora and fauna

For almost all of the winter season, ice covers the northeastern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. However, despite this fact, the sea is home to the largest population of marine fauna in the Far East. It is also one of the top biologically productive of Earth’s seas and among the richest northern marine ecosystems in the world.

Of the many large and smaller islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, several aren’t populated. Hence, these islands are ideal breeding sites for many marine animals and birds. This includes large colonies of seals, seabirds, and sea lions. The marine mammal life of the sea includes the Steller sea lion alongside the northern fur seal. Also, the Okhotsk Sea is famous as a bird lover’s paradise.

The shores of the sea are abound by large colonies with millions of common and thick-billed murres and tufted puffins. One can also spot colonies of the world’s largest raptor, the Stellar’s sea eagle, at the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk.

On the other hand, reports say that almost 500 previously unknown ocean species were discovered by scientists on the sea, back in 2015. These were found specifically in the Kuril Basin, which is the part of the Okhotsk Sea on the northwest side of the Pacific Ocean. Previously, scientists only knew of 50 species in the Kuril Basin and assumed that it was scant. However, with the recent discovery, they found around 1000 species in the sea.

9. A hotbed for commercial open-boat whaling

Between the 1830s and the early 1900s, whaling in the Sea of Okhotsk was very prominent. Commercial open-boat whaling ships from the United States and Europe would sail to the Sea of Okhotsk from the US state of Massachusetts.

They would primarily capture the right and bowhead whales before returning to eastern South America. While the population of both these species declined, the bowhead whales were almost extinct by then. The most number of whales were caught between the 1840s and 1850s, with as many as 2,400 rights and 15,200 bowheads taken away.

10. Its islands & peninsulas have been inhabited for over 12,000 years

It is said that the islands and peninsulas of the Okhotskoye More have been inhabited for approximately 12,000 years now. The island’s original explorers are set to be the Neothilic settlers. Besides, the indigenous Nivkh people of Sakhalin island on the West of the sea are their descendants.

The Sea of Okhotsk is considered as the first Pacific water body in which Russian explorers ventured. The first and foremost Europeans to visit the popular Sea were Russian explorers Ivan Moskvitin and Vassili Poyarkov back in the 1640s.

The port of Okhotsk is the first ever Russian settlement in the country’s Far East. In the 1840s, the post renounced commercial supremacy to the rural locality of Ayan.

11. Generally considered to be in Russia’s domain

There have been disputes between Russia and Japan over the administration of some islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. The territory that the Russian Federation administers surrounds the Okhotsk Sea from almost all its sides. Hence, except for the Hokkaido island, the Okhotskoye More is politically considered to be under Russia’s domain.

However, until 1945, it was Japan that administered the Kuril Islands as well as the South Sakhalin. The island country refers to them as northern territories. Moreover, based on the ongoing Kuril island dispute, Japan still claims the Kurils Islands in the south. As of now, all these islands are still under the Russian administration.

12. Islands of the Okhotsk Sea

The majority of the islands in the Sea of Okhotsk are coastal islands. The rest of them belong to the vast number of islands of the Kuril island chain. Besides, since it is located in open waters, the Iony island remains the only exception amongst the rest of the Okhotsk Sea islands. Sakhalin Island is the largest Russian island, whereas Hokkaido island is Japan’s second-largest island.

Other Okhotsk Sea islands include the Yam group of islands, the Shantar Islands, the Spafaryev double islands, Zavyalov Island, Talan Island, and the Tyuleny island.

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