Okhotsk, Sea of

Okhotsk, Sea of (ōkotsk') [key], Rus. Okhotskoye More, 590,000 sq mi (1,528,100 sq km), northwest arm of the Pacific Ocean, W of the Kamchatka peninsula and the Kuril Islands. It is connected with the Sea of Japan by the Tatar and La Pérouse straits and with the Pacific Ocean by passages through the Kuril Islands. The sea is generally less than 5,000 ft (1,524 m) deep; its deepest point, near the Kuriles, is 11,033 ft (3,363 m). The sea is icebound from November to June and has frequent heavy fogs. Fishing and crabbing are carried on off W Kamchatka peninsula. Magadan and Korsakov, in the Russian Far East, are the largest ports.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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