Salish Sea
Encyclopedia
Salish Sea
The name Salish Sea was coined only in the late 20th century, and was officially recognized by the United States in 2009 and by Canada in 2010, to describe the coastal waterways surrounding southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound between Canada and the United States of America...
was coined only in the late 20th century, and was officially recognized by the United States in 2009 and by Canada in 2010, to describe the coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
al waterway
Waterway
A waterway is any navigable body of water. Waterways can include rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and canals. In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria:...
s surrounding southern Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
and Puget Sound between Canada and the United States of America. Its major bodies of water
Body of water
A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water, usually covering the Earth or another planet. The term body of water most often refers to large accumulations of water, such as oceans, seas, and lakes, but it may also include smaller pools of water such as ponds, puddles or...
are the Strait of Georgia
Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...
, Strait of Juan de Fuca
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean...
, and Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
; it reaches from Desolation Sound
Desolation Sound
Desolation Sound is a deep water sound in British Columbia, Canada.It is a favourite destination for boaters because of its spectacular fjords, mountains, and wildlife. It is part of the Sunshine Coast....
at the north end of the Strait of Georgia to Oakland Bay
Oakland Bay
thumb|right|Oakland Bay seen from the juncture with Hammersley Inlet, looking north.Oakland Bay is a body of water near the town of Shelton, Washington. It is connected to the larger Puget Sound via Hammersley Inlet...
at the head of Hammersley Inlet
Hammersley Inlet
Hammersley Inlet, in southwestern Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington, is an arm of water leading to Shelton, Washington and Oakland Bay. Hammersley Inlet is also known as Big Skookum.-Description:...
at the south end of Puget Sound. The north portion of the Salish Sea is in the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, while the southern portion is in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
state of Washington. The inland waterways of the Salish Sea are separated from the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
by Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state of the USA, that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous...
, and are thus protected from the Pacific Ocean storms. Major port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
cities on the Salish Sea include Seattle, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Tacoma, and Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
.
Definition
The Salish Sea includes the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Strait of Georgia, and Puget Sound, and all their connecting channels and adjoining waters, such as Haro StraitHaro Strait
Haro Strait, often referred to as the Haro Straits because it is really a series of straits, is one of the main channels connecting the Strait of Georgia to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, separating Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada from the San Juan Islands of...
, Rosario Strait
Rosario Strait
Rosario Strait is a strait in northern Washington state, separating Island and San Juan Counties. It extends from the Strait of Juan de Fuca about north to the Strait of Georgia...
, Bellingham Bay
Bellingham Bay
Bellingham Bay is a bay located on the northern Pacific coast of Washington state in the United States. It is separated from the Strait of Georgia on the west by the Lummi Peninsula, Portage Island, and Lummi Island. It is bordered on the east by Bellingham, Washington, to the south-east by the...
, and the waters around and between the San Juan Islands
San Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S...
in the U.S. state of Washington and the Gulf Islands
Gulf Islands
The Gulf Islands are the islands in the Strait of Georgia , between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada....
in British Columbia, Canada. The western boundary is the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, defined as a line between Cape Flattery
Cape Flattery
Cape Flattery may refer to:* Cape Flattery * Cape Flattery , between North Direction Island, South Direction Island and Three Islands...
and Carmanah Point
Carmanah Point Light Station
Carmanah Point Light Station is a lighthouse on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island at the entrance from the Pacific Ocean to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.- History :...
. The southern boundary is the southern end of Puget Sound. The northern boundary reaches just beyond the northern end of the Strait of Georgia to include waters that experience the floodstream or tidal surge from the south: Discovery Passage
Discovery Passage
Discovery Passage is a channel that forms part of the Inside Passage between Vancouver Island and the Discovery Islands which lie off the British Columbia coast north of the Georgia Strait. It was named by Captain Vancouver for his ship, the HMS Discovery...
south of Seymour Narrows
Seymour Narrows
Seymour Narrows is a section of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia known for strong tidal currents. Discovery Passage lies between Vancouver Island at Menzies Bay, British Columbia and Quadra Island except at its northern end where the eastern shoreline is Sonora Island...
, Sutil Channel
Sutil Channel
Sutil Channel is a channel, or strait, in British Columbia, Canada, located at the north end of the Strait of Georgia, between Quadra Island and Read Island to the west, and Cortes Island to the east. It connects to several channels to the north, including Calm Channel and Hoskyn Channel...
south of Penn Islands, Lewis Channel (between Cortes and West Redonda Island
West Redonda Island
West Redonda Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Discovery Islands, an archipelago between Vancouver Island and the mainland, and between the Strait of Georgia and Johnstone Strait....
), Waddington Channel (between West Redonda and East Redonda Island
East Redonda Island
East Redonda Island is a coastal island in British Columbia, Canada, part of the Discovery Islands archipelago. It lies just to the north of Desolation Sound Marine Park, which is located off the north end of the Malaspina Peninsula at the mouth of Toba Inlet...
), and Pendrell Sound
Pendrell Sound
Pendrell Sound is a sound on the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada, separating West Redonda and East Redonda Islands in the Discovery Islands region....
, Desolation Sound
Desolation Sound
Desolation Sound is a deep water sound in British Columbia, Canada.It is a favourite destination for boaters because of its spectacular fjords, mountains, and wildlife. It is part of the Sunshine Coast....
, and the southern portion of Homfray Channel (between East Redonda Island and the mainland). These boundaries were based on the 2002 "Georgia Basin–Puget Sound Ecosystem Indicators Report". The total extent of the Salish Sea is about 18000 square kilometres (6,949.8 sq mi).
Origin of the term
The first known use of the term Salish Sea was in 1988, when marine biologist Bert Webber from Bellingham, WashingtonBellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
, created the name for the combined waters in the region with the intent to supplement the Georgia Strait, Puget Sound, and Strait of Juan de Fuca waterway names. The adoption of the term, he said, would raise consciousness about taking care of the region's waters and ecosystems. Webber's efforts are credited with the official recognition of the term in the U.S. and Canada, although Webber's original proposal also recommended the removal of the terms Georgia Strait, Puget Sound, and Strait of Juan de Fuca from official recognition.
Coast Salish peoples
Coast SalishCoast Salish
Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...
is a relatively new term used to describe the groups of indigenous peoples who live in southwest British Columbia and northwest Washington state along the Salish Sea and share a common linguistic and cultural origin. The Coast Salish are seen as one of the main cultural and linguistic branches of a larger group known as Salishan
Salishan languages
The Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
or Salish. There are five recognized divisions of the Salish language family, with Coast Salish and Interior Salish being the primary two. The Salish family consists of 23 separate languages. European and American explorers first encountered Salishan people along the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
coast in the late 18th century. The first detailed information was obtained by the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
of 1804-1806. The term "Salish" was originally applied only to the Interior Salish
Interior Salish
The Interior Salish languages are one of the two main subgroups of the Salishan language family, the other being Coast Salish. It can be further subdivided into Northern and Southern Interior Salish...
Flathead tribe living in the region of Flathead Lake
Flathead Lake
Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake in the western part of the contiguous United States. With a surface area of between and , it is slightly larger than Lake Tahoe. The lake is a remnant of the ancient inland sea, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial. Flathead Lake...
, Montana. By the mid-20th century it had been extended to cover all people speaking a similar language. The Flathead Nation continues to refer to their language and culture as Salish. A variant name for Flathead Lake is "Selish Lake". The name Salish Sea was coined only in the late 20th century. There is no overarching title for this area or even a commonly shared name for any of the waterbodies in any of the Coast Salish languages.
The waterways of the Salish Sea were important trade routes for the Coast Salish
Coast Salish
Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...
and they remain a source of food and other resources for the indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
. The basin includes territory of the Northern Wakashan Kwakwaka'wakw
Kwakwaka'wakw
The Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations peoples, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland and islands.Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
and Southern Wakashan peoples (the Nuu-chah-nulth, Makah, and Ditidaht) and, formerly, that of the Chimakum
Chimakum
The Chimakum, also spelled Chemakum and Chimacum , were a Native American people who lived in the northeastern portion of the Olympic Peninsula, between Hood Canal and Discovery Bay through the mid-19th century...
(a Chimakuan
Chimakuan languages
The Chimakuan language family consists of two languages spoken in northwestern Washington, USA on the Olympic Peninsula. It is part of the Mosan sprachbund, and one of its languages is famous for having no nasal consonants...
people related to the Quileute who no longer exist as recognizable group, having been wiped out by the Suquamish
Suquamish
The Suquamish are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American Tribe, located in present-day Washington in the United States.The Suquamish are a southern Coast Salish people; they spoke a dialect of Lushootseed, which belongs to the Salishan language family. Like many Northwest Coast natives, the...
and others in the 19th century).
Other names
The region encompassing these waterways is or was also known variously as the Georgia-Puget or Puget-Georgia Basin, or in the singular as the Georgia Depression, the Georgia Basin or Puget Sound et al. The Canadian half of the region has also often been referred to as the Gulf of Georgia, a term which encompasses the Strait of Georgia and all other waters peripheral to it, as well as to the communities lining its shores or on its islands. Like the term "Puget Sound," the terms "Georgia Strait" and "Gulf of Georgia" describe the general region as well as the body of water.Official recognition
In August 2009, the British Columbia Geographical Names Office approved a resolution recommending that the Geographical Names Board of CanadaGeographical Names Board of Canada
Geographical Names Board of Canada is a national committee of the Canadian Government Department of Natural Resources which authorizes the names used on official federal government maps of Canada since 1897. The board consists of 27 members including one from each of the provinces and territories...
adopt the name Salish Sea contingent on approval by the United States Board on Geographic Names
United States Board on Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names is a United States federal body whose purpose is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the U.S. government.-Overview:...
. The name was endorsed by the Washington State Board on Geographic Names in late October, 2009. It was approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names on November 12, 2009, and by British Columbia authorities in February 2010.
Opposition
Opponents to the Salish Sea designation assert that it is really a series of interconnected straitStrait
A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...
s, sounds
Sound (geography)
In geography a sound or seaway is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord; or it may be defined as a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land ....
and inlets. Others oppose it for historic reasons and questions about the validity of the term "Salish".