East Siberian Sea - Human Activities

Human Activities

The southern coast of the sea is shared by the Sakha Republic on the west and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia on the east. The coastal settlements are few and small, with the typical population below 100. The only city is Pevek (population 5,206), which is the northernmost city in Russia. There are gold mines near Leningradsky and Pevek, but many mines have been closed recently, for example, tin mines at Pevek in the 1990s, that resulted in outflow of population. So, the Logashkino settlement, which used to be a notable East Siberian Sea port, was abolished in 1998.

The sea is used mostly for transportation of goods across the northern coast of Russia during August–September. The navigation is hindered even in summer by the remaining floating ice which is also brought down to the southern shores by occasional winds. Fishery and hunting of marine animals is still practised as traditional activities, but has only local importance. Fishery mostly targets salmon, halibut and crab. Data exist on fish production, which in 2005 was distributed, in thousand tonnes as follows: sardine (1.6), Arctic cisco (1.8), Bering cisco (2.2), broad whitefish (2.7), Muksun (2.8) and others (3.6).

The principal port is Pevek (in the Chaunskaya Bay) After the breakup of the Soviet Union, commercial navigation in the Arctic went into decline. Nowadays more or less regular shipping occurs only between Pevek and Vladivostok. Ports in the northern Siberian coast located between Dudinka and Pevek see next to no shipping at all.

Since 1944, most electricity for the region is provided by the 30 MW thermal power station of Pevek. It is ageing and consumes much oil which has to be brought from far away. Therefore, there is a project to replace the station by a floating 70 MW atomic power station by 2015.