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MOE home > Nature and Parks > EBSA home > Offshore Surface > 420 Sea of Okhotsk, Adjacent water of Kunashiri, Iturup Islands

 

Offshore Surface 420 Sea of Okhotsk, Adjacent water of Kunashiri, Iturup Islands

Note; The offshore surface areas have many physically fluid factors such as ocean current or seasonal changes, which may effect on the spawning grounds or distribution areas of certain organisms. Therefore, it is difficult to fix certain area as EBSAs of offshore surface spatially. In addition, available data for analysis are very limited. Therefore, the EBSAs of offshore surface shows the probabilistic distribution of important area as a result of mechanical analysis using best available data at the time, so that there are problems such as that some places considered to be consecutive from the ecological features are divided. Further analysis will be required to improve when the data became available in the future, and it is necessary to review the analysis method.

Basic Information A separate window opensReferences

Area (km2) 6586

Reason(s) for selection A separate window opensCriteria

Selected due to high levels on the criteria 5, 6. And selected by the MARXAN software.

Characteristics A separate window opensReferences

These waters off the four northern islands constitute the southern side of a highly enclosed sea surrounded by the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, and Hokkaido. Part of the waters, where the cold intermediate layer of the Sea of Okhotsk forms; these are waters through which the cold intermediate layer meanders. The structure of these waters resembles that of the waters of No. 419, with the massive proliferation of phytoplankton in the spring helping to support rich biological production. They are feeding waters for cod, flounder, crab, and other useful sea creatures, as well as sea birds, pinnipeds, and cetaceans.

Species information (*) A separate window opensData source

Criteria 2
<Pisces>
Laemonema longipes (Threadfin hakeling) [Sp]
Theragra chalcogramma (Alaska pollock) [Sp]
Gadus macrocephalus (Pacific cod) [Sp]

* This is the species list of which meet the criteria. In that matter, this list does not include all species that inhabit the individual area.
Abbreviation in the information is as follows.
[Br/Ne] : Adjacent water of breeding area or nesting site
[Sp] : Spawning area

 

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