The earliest recorded voyage across the Pechora Sea through the Yugorsky Strait was made by early Russian explorer Uleb, from Veliky Novgorod.

The Arctic's first shipping line, the Great Mangazea Route, from the White Sea to the Ob River and the Yenisei Gulf began operating in the latter part of the 16th century.

The Pechora Sea is blocked by floating ice from November to June—a relatively short period.

[7] The Atlantic-influenced Kolguyev Current, which influences the temperature and salinity of the central part of the Sea, flows eastwards.

[3] This shallowness prevents the upwelling of nutrients from the Atlantic,[3] contributing to the Sea's low pelagic productivity.

[2] Its salinity ranges from 8 to 18 ‰ in the bay, 18 to 26 ‰ in the southern portion, and 34 ‰ in the central part,[2] increasing with distance from the mouth of the Pechora River.

Polar bears and Atlantic walrus are threatened by climate change,[3] which exceptionally burdens the Arctic.

[3] The Sea's cold continental climate,[3] a result of its location in the dead centre of the continent, gives favourable conditions to ice formation.

[3] As a result of this continental position and abundance of ice, the Sea's water column is stratified, its sediment is heterogeneous[9] and its pelagic productivity is low.

One of the largest Northern European stocks of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) as well as other fish populations from surrounding areas migrate throughout the Pechora Sea each autumn to spawn, a process which they complete under the ice.

[3] Additionally, the only stock of Coregonus autumnalis in Northern Europe, and one of the region's largest, spawns in the Pechora's estuary.

[16] As of 2023[update], the Pechora Sea is one of the most developed places in the Arctic with regard to petroleum exploration.

[17] According to Greenpeace[18] and the World Wildlife Fund Gasprom is not prepared to deal adequately with a spill associated with oil production.