About…..

The jewel of the Pacific Northwest, the enchanting Salish Sea, is one of the world’s largest and biologically rich inland seas. Its name pays tribute to the first inhabitants of the region, the Coast Salish.

The Salish Sea is an inland sea that encompasses Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands and the waters off of Vancouver, BC. The area spans from Olympia, Washington in the south to the Campbell River, British Columbia in the north, and west to Neah Bay and includes the large cities of Seattle and Vancouver.

The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in British Columbia, Canada and the U.S. states of Washingtonand Oregon.

• Coastline length, including islands: 7,470 km

• Total number of islands: 419 

• Total land area of islands: 3,660 square kilometers

• Sea surface area: 16,925 square kilometers

• Maximum depth: 650 meters 

• Total population: more than 8 million.

• Number of different marine animals species estimated: 37 species of mammals, 172 species of birds, 253 species of fish, and more than 3,000 species of invertebrates (See Gaydos & Pearson 2011and Brown and Gaydos, 2011.) 

• Number of species listed as threatened, endangered or are candidates for listing: 113 (See Brown and Gaydos, 2011.)

More info can be found through the SeaDoc Society, a non-profit dedicated to ensuring the health of marine wildlife and their ecosystems through science and education.