The Mezen Bay is located in Arkhangelsk Oblast

Arkhangelsk Oblast

Arkhangelsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It includes the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, as well as the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea....

 and Nenets Autonomous Okrug

Nenets Autonomous Okrug

Nenets Autonomous Okrug is a federal subject of Russia .It has an area of 176,700 km2 and population of 42,628 as of the preliminary results of the 2010 Census , 21,296 of whom live in Naryan-Mar, the administrative center.-Geography and ecology:The arctic ecology of this...

 in Northwestern Russia. It is one of four large bays and gulfs of the White Sea

White Sea

The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...

, the others being the Dvina Bay

Dvina Bay

The Dvina Bay is located in Arkhangelsk Oblast in Northwestern Russia. It is one of four large bays and gulfs of the White Sea, the others being the Mezen Bay, the Onega Bay, and the Kandalaksha Gulf. The two main river emptying into the Dvina Bay is the Northern Dvina River, while the two cities...

, the Onega Bay

Onega Bay

The Onega Bay is located in [the Republic of Karelia and Arkhangelsk Oblast in Northwestern Russia, west of the city of Arkhangelsk. It is the southernmost of four large bays and gulfs of the White Sea, the others being the Dvina Bay, the Mezen Bay, and the Kandalaksha Gulf. The area of the bay is...

, and the Kandalaksha Gulf

Kandalaksha Gulf

The Kandalaksha Gulf is located in the Republic of Karelia, and Murmansk Oblast in northwestern Russia. Forming the north-western corner of the White Sea, it is one of four large bays and gulfs of this sea, the others being the Onega Bay , the Dvina Bay , and the Mezen Bay .The Kola Peninsula...

. The Mezen Bay is the easternmost of these, as it lies to the south of the Kanin Peninsula

Kanin Peninsula

Kanin Peninsula is a large peninsula in Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Latitude : 68° Longitude : 45°It is surrounded by the White Sea to the west and by the Barents Sea to the north and east. Shoyna is one of the few communities on the peninsula....

. Morzhovets Island

Morzhovets Island

Morzhovets Island is an island in the southern limit of the Barents Sea. It is located in Mezen Bay, at the entrance of the White Sea thus separating the Barents Sea and the White Sea.Morzhovets lies only a few km above the Arctic Circle...

 lies at the entrance of the bay. The two main rivers emptying into the Mezen Bay are the Kuloy River

Kuloy River (White Sea)

The Kuloy is a river in Pinezhsky and Mezensky Districts of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia. Its mouth is located in the Mezen Bay of the White Sea. It is long, and the area of its basin . The principal tributaries of the Kuloy are the Kyolda , the Nemnyuga , and the Soyana...

, and the Mezen River

Mezen River

The Mezen is a river in Udorsky District of the Komi Republic and in Leshukonsky and Mezensky Districts of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia. Its mouth is located in the Mezen Bay of the White Sea. Mezen is one of the biggest rivers of European Russia. It is long, and the area of its basin...

. The area of the bay is 6630 square kilometre. The Mezen Bay is 105 kilometres (65.2 mi) long and 97 kilometres (60.3 mi) wide. The tides in the Mezen Bay are up to 10 metres (32.8 ft) high and are the biggest in the White Sea. The northern part of the bay, just south of Morzhovets Island, is crossed by the Arctic Circle

Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....

.

Historically, the Mezen Bay was the fishing area. The pomors

Pomors

Pomors or Pomory are Russian settlers and their descendants on the White Sea coast. It is also term of self-identification for the descendants of Russian, primarily Novgorod, settlers of Pomorye , living on the White Sea coasts and the territory whose southern border lies on a watershed which...

 who populated the coast were fishing along the coast. A sudden change of the weather could drive them off-shore. In this case, Morzhovets island was the last land before they got driven off to the Barents Sea and perish, and thus was considered to be the last resort. Another traditional occupation of the pomors in the Mezen Bay was seal hunting

Seal hunting

Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...

.

The south-western coast of the bay is known as Abramovsky Bereg, and the eastern coast is known as Konushinsky Bereg. The principal villages on the Abramovsky coast are Koyda and Dolgoshhelye, both of the Mezensky District

Mezensky District

Mezensky District is an administrative district , one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. Municipally, it is incorporated as Mezensky Municipal District...

 of Arkhangelsk Oblast. On the Konushinsky Coast, the main villages are Yazhma and Chizha, both in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

The entire coast of the Mezen Bay is included into border security zone

Border Security Zone of Russia

The Border Security Zone in Russia is the designation of a strip of land where economic activity and access are restricted without permission of the FSB. In order to visit the zone, a permit issued by the local FSB department is required. The restricted access zone The Border Security Zone in...

, intended to protect the borders of Russian Federation from unwanted activity. In order to visit the zone, a permit issued by the local FSB department is required.

There was a project to construct a tidal power station

Tidal power

Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into useful forms of power - mainly electricity....

, Mezenskaya Tidal Power Plant, in the Mezen bay which would exploit the great height of the tides. The project has not been realized.