Planet Porto Alegre (Brazil): Sakhalin’s treasures
14 May 2005
Shell wants the oil from the Russian Seas. Environmentalists denounce the risk of extinction regarding the Pacific Gray Whales
By Tiago Soares
Sakhalin Island is located in Western Russia. It is closer to Tokyo than to Moscow. This small island has been a reason of dispute between Russians and Japanese for centuries. Every year, between May and October, when the water is not frozen, gray whales go there seeking for food. In this part of the ocean there is not only a lot of fish- there are also natural oil deposits only comparable to the ones in the Middle East. Although the oil is not important to the gray whales, it does attract other terrible “predators” like Royal Dutch/Shell.