Abashiri, a small town of 33,000 inhabitants in the extreme north of the Japanese archipelago. Northern Hokkaido is bordered by the Sea of Okhotsk, providing the city of Abashiri with a winter phenomenon essential to a natural life cycle, Ryuhyo («sea of ice» in Japanese). Ryuhyo in the Sea of Okhotsk, near the northern coast of Hokkaido, Japan, has become a tourist attraction and one of the 100 soundscapes of Japan. The Sea of Okhotsk is the southernmost area in the Northern Hemisphere where drift ice can be observed.
Unfortunately, the Sea of Okhotsk is one of the places where the temperature has increased the most, beyond 3 degrees according to research from the University of Berkley. The blocks of ice carrying plankton, will generate a food chain essential for the coast but also for humans. The plankton will feed fish, including salmon that come to spawn in this part of Hokkaido. Salmon fishing is the most important part of income for local fishermen. The human being is not the only one to benefit from salmon, the Hokkaido bear feeds on salmon in the autumn period before the arrival of winter on the island. The phenomenon will disappear in the future, impacting the local wildlife and the economy of the city which depends mainly on fishing and the tourist attraction created by Ryuhyo in winter.
