Blockage by ice floes and freezing of the seawater in ports along the coast of Hokkaido, theonly coastal sea area in Japan that freezes over in winter, have serious direct and indirecteconomic impacts on various industries such as shipping and fishing industries. In order to devise strategies todeal with the problem of port closure in winter, the mechanism by which the water in the ports freezes mustbe elucidated. Elucidation of this mechanism and the establishment of measures to resolve theproblem of freezing in ports would be very beneficial for industries operating in such ports.
The aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanism of freezing in Otsu Fishing Port, aexcavatedtype fishing port in which the water freezes almost every winter, and to try to establisheffective measures for dealing with the problem of port closure due to freezing.
