The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada)[2] is a body of water about 96 miles (83 nmi; 154 km) long[3] that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre of the Strait.
Like the rest of the Salish Sea and surrounding regions, the climate of the Strait is disputed, with the Köppen system classifying it as Mediterranean, but most regional climatologists preferring oceanic. While the climate is mostly oceanic in nature, the dry summers result in the Mediterranean classification in the Köppen system. Rainfall ranges from over 100 inches (250 cm) (temperate rainforest) conditions at the west end to as little as 16 inches (410 mm) at the east end, near Sequim.[5]
Because it is exposed to the generally westerly winds and waves of the Pacific, seas and weather in Juan de Fuca Strait are, on average, rougher than in the more protected waters inland, thereby resulting in a number of small-craft advisories, gale warnings, and storm warnings.
This strait remains the subject of a maritime boundary dispute between Canada and the United States. The dispute is only over the seaward boundary extending 200 nautical miles (370 km) west from the mouth of the strait. The maritime boundary within the strait is not in dispute. Both governments have proposed a boundary based on the principle of equidistance, but with different basepoint selections, resulting in small differences in the line. Resolution of the issue should be simple, but has been hindered because it might influence other unresolved maritime boundary issues between Canada and the United States.[10] In addition, the government of British Columbia has rejected both equidistant proposals, instead arguing that the Juan de Fuca submarine canyon is the appropriate "geomorphic and physiogeographic boundary".[11] The proposed equidistant boundary currently marks the northern boundary of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. British Columbia's position is based on the principle of natural prolongation which developed in international law. It poses a dilemma for the federal government of Canada. If Canada holds that the principle of natural prolongation applies to the Juan de Fuca Canyon on its Pacific Ocean coast, the assertion could undermine Canada's argument in the Gulf of Maine boundary dispute. In this Atlantic Ocean context, Canada favours an outcome based on the principle of equidistance.[12][13]
Salish Sea
The Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Salish Sea with the Olympic Peninsula in the background
In March 2008, the Chemainus First Nation proposed renaming the strait the "Salish Sea", an idea that reportedly met with approval by British Columbia's Aboriginal Relations Minister Mike de Jong, who pledged to put it before the BC cabinet for discussion. Making Salish Sea official required a formal application to the Geographical Names Board of Canada.[14] A parallel American movement promoting the name had a different definition, combining of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound as well as the Strait of Georgia and related waters under the more general name Salish Sea.[15] This latter definition was made official in 2009 by geographic boards of Canada and the United States.
In October 2009, the Washington State Board of Geographic Names approved the Salish Sea toponym, not to replace the names of the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound, and Strait of Juan de Fuca, but instead as a collective term for all three.[16] The British Columbia Geographical Names Office passed a resolution only recommending that the name be adopted by the Geographical Names Board of Canada, should its US counterpart approve the name-change.[16][17][18] The United States Board on Geographic Names approved the name on November 12, 2009.[19]
Certain groups of seabirds called common murre migrate north by swimming. Some Pacific Coast murres paddle north to the sheltered bays of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to feed on herring and other small fish.
Humpback whales can be observed near the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, mostly from June to November, especially in areas near Neah Bay and La Push. There is a resident (non-nomadic) population of killer whale in the Strait and surrounding waters, where they feed on spawning Chinook salmon. The migrating, so-called "transient" populations of killer whale often prey on the California sea lion and Steller's sea lion, in addition to the gray whale, another cetacean with both residential and nomadic groups in the Strait. As migratory gray whales swim between Baja California and Alaska each year, they will often be seen in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, feeding on small marine creatures on the seafloor, and using the Strait as a sort of "rest stop" on their long journeys. They also socialize with and encounter the local, non-migratory gray whales in the Strait; from a conservation standpoint, this is vital for the whales' ability to meet potential new mates, form new bonds, and ultimately create new bloodlines. This yearly influx of whales is best observed between March and May, at the peak of the migration times.[20]
^Howard Macdonald Stewart, 2017. Views of the Salish Sea: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Change around the Strait of Georgia. Harbour Publishing Company Limited. pp. 13–15. ISBN978-1-55017-804-3.
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