Shelikhov Gulf () is a large gulf off the northwestern coast of

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The gulf is named after Russian explorer

Grigory Shelikhov Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov (Григорий Иванович Шелихов in Russian) (1747, Rylsk, Belgorod Governorate – July 20, 1795 (July 31, 1795 New Style)) was a Russian seafarer, merchant, and fur trader who established a perma ...

. It is located in the northeastern corner of the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

and branches into two main arms, Gizhigin Bay to the west and

Penzhina Bay Penzhina Bay (, ''Penzhinskaya guba'') is a long and narrow bay off the northwestern coast of Kamchatka, Russia. The bay has one of the strongest tides in the world, which prompted several power station proposals. Geography Penzhina Bay is the upp ...

to the east. Its southwest corner is formed by the P'yagin Peninsula, Yam Bay, and the Yamsky Islands. The Shelikhov Gulf should not be confused with much smaller Shelikhov Bay (Bukhta Shelikhova, 50.3764N, 155.62E), which is also in the Sea of Okhotsk on the northwestern coast of Paramushir Island.

History

Shelikhov Gulf was frequented by American whaleships hunting bowhead and

gray whale The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of , a weight of up to and lives between ...

s between 1849 and 1900. They called it Northeast Gulf.Jochelson, W. (1905). "The Koryak". The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. VI. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. Leiden/New York.Allen, J. A. (1903). "Report of the mammals collected in northeastern Siberia by the Jesup North Pacific expedition with itinerary and field notes, by N. G. Buxton". ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'', Vol. XIX, pp. 101-184. They also traded with the natives for

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

and

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

. On 11 August 1867, the

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

''Stella'' (270 tons), of

New Bedford New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, New Bedford had a ...

, captained by Ebenezer F. Nye, was wrecked on Krayny in the northeastern arm of the gulf. Two men were killed as the barque was smashed to pieces on the rocks. The rest of the crew were split among several vessels.

Wildlife

In the spring and summer, beluga whales aggregate in the bays and

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

at the head of Shelikhov Gulf to feed on spawning

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

, smelt, and

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

.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. In the spring, bowhead whales can also be seen in the gulf.Moore, S. E., and R. R. Reeves (1993). "Distribution and Movement". In Burns, J. J.; Montague, J. J.; and Cowles, C. J. ''The Bowhead Whale''. Special Publication No. 2: The Society for Marine Mammalogy.

References

External links

Koryakia

{{Authority control Bays of the Sea of Okhotsk Gulfs of Russia Bodies of water of Magadan Oblast Bodies of water of Kamchatka Krai Pacific Coast of Russia Shipwrecks in the Sea of Okhotsk