Queen Victoria Sea the Sjuøyane in Svalbard and as far east as Rudolf Island in the Franz Josef Archipelago. The islands of Kvitøya and Victoria Island are located at the southern limit of this Arctic sea. To the south lies the Barents Sea. Queen Victoria Sea The Queen Victoria Sea (, "Morye Korolevy Viktorii") is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean, stretching from northeast of Svalbard to northwest Franz Josef Land. It is obstructed by ice most of the year. This sea is named after Queen Victoria. Russian Arctic explorer Valentin Akkuratov claimed that a branch of the Gulf Stream reached
East Siberian Sea well as shallow depths (mostly less than 50 m), slow sea currents, low tides (below 25 cm), frequent fogs, especially in summer, and an abundance of ice fields which fully melt only in August–September. The sea shores were inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous tribes of Yukaghirs, Chukchi and then Evens and Evenks, which were engaged in fishing, hunting and reindeer husbandry. They were then absorbed by Yakuts and later by Russians. Major industrial activities in the area are mining and navigation within the Northern Sea Route; commercial fishing is poorly developed. The largest city and port is Pevek,