ABSTRACT
Kamchatka Krai occupies the Kamchatka Peninsula, some 1,600 km in length and 130 km in width, which separates the Sea of Okhotsk, in the west, from the Bering Sea, in the east. After 1917, Kamchatka was part of the short-lived Far Eastern Republic. Kamchatka Oblast was formed on 20 October 1923, forming part of Khabarovsk Krai until 23 January 1956. In April 2005 the legislatures of Kamchatka Oblast and the Koryak Autonomous Okrug approved a request to President Vladimir Putin that the two territories be merged. The waters around Kamchatka are extremely rich in marine life, and fishing, especially for crabs, is the dominant sector of the region’s economy. Apart from fishing, which represents the overwhelming majority of agricultural output, agriculture in the territory consists of vegetable production, animal husbandry and hunting. The industrial sector is based on the processing of agricultural products, non-ferrous metallurgy, and coal and electricity production.
