Moneron Island

Moneron is an island belonging to Russia in the Tatar Strait southwest of Sakhalin, on the northeastern end of the Japanese Sea.

Geography and Biology

Moneron is surrounded by many cliffs and rocky islets. Buoyed by the warm Tsushima Current, the island is home to many marine creatures that are otherwise in these latitudes is not to be found. The jagged rock formations of the island is also an ideal breeding ground for seabirds.

In particular, Russian biologists observe the island's more than 150 species of seabirds and explore the underwater world. The island and the surrounding sea area in 2007 were declared by the Administration of the Sakhalin Oblast to a National Natural Park, which is to be used for tourism purposes.

History

Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, gave the island the name Todo Moshiri ( " Sea Lion Island "). In the 18th century, the island came under the rule of a daimyo of Matsumae fief. During this time she received the present name Moneron when she named the French navigator Jean -François de La Pérouse after one of his sailors. Later (海马 岛, " Sea Lion Island" ), the island was renamed by the Japanese in Kaiba -tō. After the end of World War II and the occupation by the Soviet Union, the island received its European name Moneron again.

55 km away from the island crashed in 1983 shot down by Soviet interceptors Boeing 747 of Korean Airlines Flight 007 in the Sea of ​​Japan.