Sakhalin Gulf (russian: Сахалинский залив) is a gulf in the
Sea of Okhotsk between continental
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
(north of the
Amur
The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China ( Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long, ...
's mouth) and the
Schmidt Peninsula, at the northern tip of
Sakhalin Island. The width of the gulf reaches up to 160 km (99 mi). It is covered with ice from mid-November until late April, but north winds can leave the bay blocked with ice until July.
[United States. (1918). ''Asiatic Pilot, Volume 1: East coast of Siberia, Sakhalin Island and Chosen''. Washington: Hydrographic Office.]
The port of
Moskalvo (Москальво) is located on the eastern shore of the Sakhalin Gulf, close to
Ush Island.
History
Sakhalin Gulf was frequented by
American and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n
whaleship
A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales.
Terminology
The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
s targeting
bowhead whales between 1848 and 1874.
[''Storfursten Constantin'', of Helsinki, June 1860. In Lindholm, O. V., Haes, T. A., & Tyrtoff, D. N. (2008). ''Beyond the frontiers of imperial Russia: From the memoirs of Otto W. Lindholm''. Javea, Spain: A. de Haes OWL Publishing.] They also traded with the
natives
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
for
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
. On 6–7 September 1854, the ship ''City'' (351 tons), of
New Bedford
New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...
, grounded and wrecked on the western side of the gulf. Most of her crew made it to Sakhalin Island, but seven men, including the first officer, perished on a raft from the wreck of the
bark ''Peruvian''. They were able to reach the Russian village of Petrovsk and boarded a
brig for home.
[''City'', of New Bedford, Sep. 6-Oct. 1, 1854, NWC.]
Wildlife
In the summer
beluga whale
The beluga whale () (''Delphinapterus leucas'') is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus ''Delphinapterus''. It is also known as the ...
s aggregate at the head of Sakhalin Gulf to feed on
spawning
Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...
.
[Solovyev, B. A., Shpak, O. V., Glazov, D. M., Rozhnov, V. V., & D. M. Kuznetsova. (2015). "Summer distribution of beluga whales (''Delphinapterus leucas'') in the Sea of Okhotsk". ''Russian J. Theriol.'' 14 (2): 201-215.]
References
Location
Bodies of water of Sakhalin Oblast
Bays of the Sea of Okhotsk
Gulfs of Russia
Gulfs of the Pacific Ocean
Shipwrecks in the Sea of Okhotsk
{{FarEast-Russia-geo-stub