Yam Islands


The Yam Islands, Yamsky Islands or Yamskiye Islands, is a small island group located close to the coast in the northern Sea of Okhotsk.
Administratively the Yam Islands belong to the Magadan Oblast of the Russian Federation.

Geography

The Yam island group lies about 250 km east of Magadan, only 10 km from the shores of the Pyagin Peninsula.

Islands

The main island is Matykil Island. It is 6 km long and has a width of 2.2 km. All the other islands are much smaller. The highest point in Matykil is 700 m.
The other islands of the group are: Atykan, Baran, Khatemalyu and Kokontse.

History

Between 1852 and 1874, American whaleships cruised around the islands for bowhead whales.

Fauna

s occur on the islands, while in the spring and summer millions of seabirds nest on the islands, including roughly six million least auklet, over 900,000 northern fulmar, and tens of thousands of parakeet auklet; crested auklet also nest on the islands.
These islands are part of the Magandskiy Zapovednik or protected bioregion of the Magadan area.