MURMANSK, a port on the Kola inlet of the Murmansk coast of the Barents sea in the Russian S.F.S.R. in 69° 1o' N., 33° 3o' E. Pop. (1926) 8,777. In 1916 it was merely a few log huts, but the completion of a railway line linking it with Leningrad has led to a remarkably rapid development, since it is the only northerly port of the U.S.S.R. which is ice-free all the year round. There is sheltered anchorage for large vessels and its loading and unloading capacity is 3,00o tons per day. It has ample storehouses and railway sidings, tugs, water-boats, lighters, etc. Workmen's dwellings of modern type are being erected and there is a munic ipal electricity and water-supply, and a hospital. Its industries are mainly dependent on the fishing industry, and cod liver oil, fish guano, and shagreen from shark skin are produced. A carpentry industry is carried on in winter to supply barrels and boxes for fish. Prospects of an import trade from Great Britain, U.S.A. and Canada are good, and American cotton for Moscow already comes via Murmansk.
The Murmansk coast extends from the Russian frontier to Cape Svyatoi Nos. It is a region of granitic cliffs i,000 ft. in the west and 30o ft. at Svyatoi Nos, indented by deep gulfs and inlets with tundra and stunted bushes, and has many excellent harbours. The Atlantic drift warms the coast and west of Litski point there is little pack-ice and, though a thin ice crust may form, it does not impede navigation, and thus this coast, lying within the Arctic circle, is open all the year round. Ice-breakers are rarely needed.
There are telegraph lines, wireless stations and lighthouses. Fishing is the main occupation, and the season lasts from March to August. The fish comes from Norway and so the fishing moves from west to east. Not only are the local inhabitants employed, hut about 3,00o men from the Kern and Onega district come for the season, and need no longer endure a long sledge journey.
The chief fish caught are cod (treska), turbot, haddock, coal fish or saith, wolf-fish, flat fish, comber or sea perch, eel and pout. Herrings are common but are not in much demand. Sharks are caught and oil extracted from their liver is used for medicinal purposes, and their skin is dressed. Deficiency of salt gave Mur mansk fish a bad name, but government salt depots now exist and the fish is satisfactorily cured. Alexandrovsk, at the mouth of the Kola inlet, on the western side, was opened as a port in 1899, but its site proved unsuitable owing to its single inlet and to the steep rocks near the harbour, and Murmansk has displaced it. The Murmansk administrative district includes the Kola penin sula and is part of the Leningrad Area, though it is divided from it by the Karelian A.S.S.R. ; it has an area of 128,600 sq.km. and a population (1926) of 23,016.