Sea of Okhotsk: environmental problems and ways to solve them

For several decades, environmentalists around the world are sounding the alarm. Pollution of the environment is furious. Because of this, many conditions change in many natural areas, which leads to a reduction in the population of animals and plants. Many species disappear altogether. Some regions are the most unfavorable, while others are still relatively safe.

One of the environmental problems now is pollution of the oceans and seas. The most unfavorable in this respect is the Pacific Ocean and its water area. The shores of Russia are washed by three seas in this region. One of them is the Sea of Okhotsk. Its environmental problems are not so acute yet, and until recently it was considered quite clean. But every year the situation there is getting worse.

Characteristics of the Sea of Okhotsk

This pond is washed by the shores of Russia and Japan. It is separated from the Pacific by the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kurile Islands and the island of Hokkaido. But it is still not considered an internal sea, although it communicates with ocean water only through straits. The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the deepest in Russia: its maximum depth reaches almost 4 kilometers. The area of the reservoir is also large - more than 1,500 square kilometers. The whole northern part of the sea is covered with ice for more than half a year, which makes it difficult to fish and transport. In the southeast, off the coast of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk almost does not freeze and its waters are richer in fish and vegetation. The peculiarities of this reservoir also include the fact that its coast is heavily indented and has many bays. Some regions are unfavorable in the seismic sense, which causes a large number of storms and even tsunamis. Three large rivers - the Amur, the Hunting and the Kukhtui - flow into the Sea of Okhotsk. Its environmental problems are also related to the places where they flow.

Resources in this region

The Sea of Okhotsk is not very rich in fish because of its temperature regime. But all the same, fishing there is quite developed. Resources of the Okhotsk Sea and environmental problems of the region are closely related. It is because of fishing vessels and oil production that the biosystem suffers. Obtain valuable sea fish in the region : navaga, pollock, herring, flounder. There are many different salmonids - chum salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon and others. In addition, there is a very popular in many countries, the sea crab, there are squid and sea urchins. There are also marine mammals in the Sea of Okhotsk: seals, seals, fur seals and whales. Red and brown algae are widespread , which are also a valuable commercial resource. Oil and gas fields, as well as some rare metals, have been found in the shelf zone of the reservoir.

Ecological problems of the Sea of Okhotsk

It is difficult to briefly characterize them, because this region experiences many difficulties. They talked about them at the end of the 20th century, but until now the problems are only worsening. Separately from the coast of the Far East, Kamchatka and Sakhalin Island, the Sea of Okhotsk is rarely considered. Ecological problems of this region can be identified as follows:

- pollution by oil products from various water vehicles and during oil production and processing;

- coastal waters are polluted from waste located on the shore of human settlements with waste products;

- Three large and several small rivers flow into the sea. They also carry in their waters traces of industrial activities of people. And from the rivers flowing on Kamchatka, a large amount of organic substances and phenols from the peat bogs located on the peninsula get to the sea;

- any sea vessels are environmentally unfavorable for sea water and its inhabitants. In addition to the products of fuel processing and waste products of the crew discharged to the sea, the ecology of the biosystem is disturbed by noise, magnetic and electric fields;

- Poaching is another problem of the Sea of Okhotsk. Commercially valuable fish and marine animals are mercilessly destroyed for profit.

Oil Pollution

Compared with other seas, this reservoir was previously considered relatively safe from an environmental point of view. After all, there is no serious industrial production on the coast, mineral raw materials are not extracted. But in recent years, the environmental problems of the Sea of Okhotsk have become more acute precisely because of pollution with oil products. This is due to the increase in the number of vessels dropping fuel processing products into the sea, the fuel and lubricants are washed away by storm and thawed waters from coastal depots and ports. After all, navigation on the Sea of Okhotsk grows every year, because it is the only way to connect the mainland with the Kuril Islands, the island of Sakhalin and Kamchatka. In addition, the risk of pollution in this region has increased due to the development of oil and gas fields. The peculiarities that the Okhotsk Sea possesses also affect the problem. Environmental problems are aggravated by the presence of currents, large tides and ebbs, as well as severe storms and tsunamis. All this leads to the fact that petroleum products are carried over long distances and poison all living organisms.

Animal and plant life

The environmental problems of the Sea of Okhotsk are mainly due to the fact that some species of fish and marine animals are disappearing. Particularly affected by whales and seals, which were almost exterminated. Therefore, it is very important to combat poaching and excessive capture. The number of valuable species of commercial fish, especially salmon, also decreased significantly. From this and because of the pollution of sea water with oil products, their commercial value has become much lower. The unfavorable ecological situation is also reflected in the amount of algae that are extracted for various household needs.

Solutions to the Sea of Okhotsk problems

The ecology of the region was only talked about at the end of the 20th century. It was at this time that nature advocates sounded the alarm because of increasing water pollution with oil products. In addition to the usual methods of solving environmental problems over the years, several options have been put forward to improve the situation in the region:

- proposed to turn Kamchatka and adjacent waters into a global hydrobiosphere reserve included in the list of protected World Heritage properties;

- Another proposal - to rebuild the entire national economic complex of Kamchatka and free it from unprofitable industries;

- it is considered that it is very important to assign to the Sea of Okhotsk the status of the inland sea of the Russian Federation. This will help to avoid many problems: illegal fishing, water pollution by vessels of other countries;

- it is very important to combat the excessive destruction of marine animals - poaching.

Only if we seriously approach the solution of environmental problems in the region can we save the unique biosystem of the Sea of Okhotsk.