The Salish Sea is the intricate network of coastal waterways of the Cascadia bioregion that includes the southwestern portion of the province of British Columbia and the northwestern portion of the state of Washington. Its major bodies of water are the Strait of Georgia, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound.

The Salish sea reaches from Sonora Island in Desolation Sound at the north end of the Strait of Georgia to Oakland Bay at the head of Hammersley Inlet at the south end of Puget Sound. The westernmost boundary is the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, defined as a line between Cape Flattery and Carmanah Point.

The inland waterways of the Salish Sea are partially separated from the open Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula, and are thus partially shielded from Pacific Ocean storms. Major port cities on the Salish Sea include Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bellingham, Port Angeles and Victoria. Much of the coast is part of a megalopolis stretching from West Vancouver, British Columbia, to Olympia, Washington.

The Salish Sea is one of the world largest and biologically rich inland seas and the name comes from the first inhabitants of the area, the Coast Salish.

Deepest part of the Salish Sea: 928 feet

Total Shoreline: 4641 miles (7470 km)

Number of Islands: 419

Total Island land area: 1400 square miles (366 square kilometers)

Total Residents: more than 8,000,000

The Salish Sea Basin is composed of two areas, and this primarily because it involves two separate countries. If there were not a major political border dividing the Salish Sea, then it would just be one sea with many areas. Still, as it stand currently, there is a dividing line which is political in nature.

In Canada, the Salish Sea encompasses Desolation Sound, North Gulf Islands, South Gulf Islands, the Straight of Georgia, the northern areas of the Straight of San de Fuca and all of the waters off of the south portions of Vancouver inland up to Campbell River and most all of the south coast of British Columbia.

British Columbia, South Coast

Desolation Sound,

North Gulf Isands

South Gulf Islands

Straight of Georgia

Straight of San de Fuca, North Shore

Vancouver Island

In the United States, the Salish Sea encompasses the southern side of the Straight of San de Fuca, the San Juan Islands and all of Puget Sound Seashore. This area spans from Olympia, Washington up along both east and west sides of the sound in the south, then north to the Canadian Border on the east side and north on the west side around the northwest coast of Washington to Neah Bay.

Olympia Peninsula, North and East Shores

Puget Sound

Straight of San de Fuca, South Shore

San Juan Islands

Not long after crossing the "Taiachquoan Ju Eluwantowit" which when translated from the language of the people who first migrated across the land bridge, is The Bridge from God, at the time when this nation of people were camped upon the shores of Ta-Maschilamek Menuppek, (translated as Great Salmon Lake,) when Hadoram tells his father, Joktan, that he has chosen not to continue on his father′s path east, but has decided to continue camping along the banks of this great lake and here will make the homeland of his family.

It was here near the present day Columbia river that Hadoram settled and made a home for his sons and daughters, who came to be known as the Sons of Hadoram, indigenous tribes with include the people who are the Coastal Salish today.

The Salish, which are a linguistic grouping of North American Indigenous tribes speaking related languages, are the people who live in the upper basins of the Columbia and Fraser rivers and their tributaries in what are now the province of British Columbia, as well as what are now the three states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. These Salish speaking tribes are divided into two regions.

At one time the name Salish was a tribal name for the Flathead of the interior Salish, but later, the name Salish began to be applies to both the interior people as well as their coastal relatives.

The Coast Salish tribes reside in and around the Salish Basin Ecoregion of the Northwest Pacific Coast region. The name Coast Salish is the name used to distinguish them from their nearest relatives, the Interior Salish who live in the interior areas of British Columbia, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

The Salish tribes comprised mainly the Coeur d'Alene, Columbia, Cowlitz, Flathead, Kalispel, Lake, Lillooet, Nespelem, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Shuswap, Sinkaietk (southern Okanagon), Spokan, Thompson, and Wenatchee peoples, all of whom speak various Salishian languages.