The Poronay (russian: Поронай, ja, 幌内川) is the longest river on the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It flows in a southerly direction through Tym, Smirnykhovsky and Poronaysky Districts.

Geography

The river begins on Mt. Nevel in the East Sakhalin Mountains, flows south through the swampy

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

of the Tym-Poronay Valley, and enters the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

in the

Gulf of Patience Gulf of Patience is a large body of water off the southeastern coast of Sakhalin, Russia. Geography The Gulf of Patience is located in the southern Sea of Okhotsk, between the main body of Sakhalin Island in the west and Cape Patience in the east ...

. before it enters the sea, the river divides into two

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

, which flow into the sea apart from each other. The two branches create a marshy

river island River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online. Best known for its trend focused womenswear offering, River Isla ...

in the middle. The town of

Poronaysk Poronaysk (russian: Порона́йск; ja, 敷香町 ''Shisuka-chō''; Ainu: ''Sistukari'' or ''Sisi Tukari'') is a town and the administrative center of Poronaysky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the Poronay River north of ...

is located near the western mouth of the river. The Poronay is crossed by only two bridges, one rail and one road bridge. Both bridges are next to each other, in the middle of the river between the towns of Pobedino and Pervomaysk. The

river valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

, especially the area between the downstream Poronay and the Deer River (a small river to the east), has many lakes. The Poronay river system is a rich breeding ground for

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

Poronay
- an article in the

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

. (In Russian, retrieved 2012-08-28.) and other

anadromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...

fish, as well as

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, especially the difference in levels of s ...

such as

Amur pike The Amur pike (''Esox reichertii''), also known as the blackspotted pike, is a pike native to the Amur River system in east Asia, as well as freshwater habitat on the island of Sakhalin. Closely related to the northern pike, it reaches a length ...

.Skopets, Mikhail
''"Sakhalin Island, Poronai River, Part 1."''
Flyfishing Russia. Blog post, 16 August 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2012.

Hydrology

The river is fed by both

snowmelt In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many part ...

and

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

. Average

water flow Environmental flows describe the quantity, timing, and quality of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well being that depend on these ecosystems. In the Indian context river flows requir ...

is 120 m³/s. The highest level of flow has been observed in early May, and the lowest in the second half of September. The river usually freezes in the second half of November, while the ice thaws in late April.

List of tributaries

''The length of each tributary is given in parentheses:'' *Right tributaries **Leonidovka (95) **Orlovka (83) **Onorka (77) **Kamenka (Nizhnyaya Matrosovka) (71) **Buyuklinka (63) **Yelnaya (61) **Longari (55 ) **Severnaya Khandasa (54) **Yuzhnaya Khandasa (51) **Pobedinka (49) **Taulan (41) **Tumannaya (34) **Daldaganka (31) **Tayozhnaya (31) *Left tributaries **Zhitnitsa (Muyka) (61) **Valza (50) **Borisovka (38) **Kresty (36)

References

{{Reflist Rivers of Sakhalin Oblast Drainage basins of the Sea of Okhotsk