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The 'British Columbia Coast ' is one of Canada's two continental coastlines; the other being the coastline from the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean via the Northwest Passage and Hudson Bay to the Ungava Peninsula and Labrador and the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Bay of Fundy to the international border of New Brunswick and Maine at Passamaquoddy Bay.
The British Columbia Coast is a temperate rain forest, within the Pacific temperate rain forest region.
In a sense excluding the urban Lower Mainland area adjacent to the American border, which is considered "The Coast," the British Columbia Coast refers to one of BC's three main regions, the others being the Lower Mainland and The Interior. In the Interior, "down on the Coast" generally refers, however, to being in the Lower Mainland or Greater Victoria, while "out on the Coast" could mean in Prince Rupert or Port Hardy, on the North Coast and northern Vancouver Island respectively, which are only some of the vast coastal region's many distinct subareas.
Although fully totalling 965 km in aerial-distance length from Victoria on the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Stewart, British Columbia on the Alaska border at the head of the Portland Canal, its aerial length is usually considered as the 840 km that from the 49th Parallel in the Straight of Georgia to 54'40", which is the southern limit of the Alaska Panhandle (see Oregon boundary dispute).
However, because of its many deep inlets and complicated island shorelines - and 40,000 islands of varying sizes, including Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands (now properly known as Haida Gwaii, Land of the Haida), the total length of the British Columbia Coast is 25,000 km - much longer than the entire rest of the Canadian coastline at 20,000, even including the island of Newfoundland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. This is known as the coastline paradox
The coastline's geography is most comparable to that of Norway and its heavily-indented coastline of fjords. The inland straits, the Strait of Georgia in particular, share coastal affinities with the semi-inland waters of Oslofjord and its shoreline archipelago and similarly with the waters around Trondheimsfjord farther north. North from there the mainland coast resembles the great fjords of Geirangerfjord, Hardangerfjord, Sognefjord and the rest of the western and northern Norwegian coastline.

Contents

Major inlets

Major waterways

Major islands

History

Fishery

Shipping, ferries, and sailing

Coastal communities

Resorts and fishing lodges

Coastal First Nations

Provincial and Federal Parks and Preserves

Environmental issues

Environmental hotspots

See also

Major inlets

The great fjords of the British Columbia Coast rival those of Norway in length and depth, but have even higher mountain scenery with a more alpine flavour. Many of the mountains offshore are much larger than those along the Norwegian coast, many large enough to have major fjords of their own, as well as their own mountain ranges. This is also of course even more true of the very large islands farther offshore, Vancouver Island and Graham and Moresby Islands in the Queen Charlottes, which together form the Insular Mountains, distinct from the Coast Mountains of the mainland.
Here are the most important fjords, including those which are important in some way for reasons other than their size, listed south to north:

★ Burrard Inlet (Vancouver Harbour)

★ Howe Sound

★ Sechelt Inlet

★
★ Narrows Inlet

★
★ Salmon Inlet

★
★ Skookumchuck Narrows

★ Jervis Inlet

★
★ Queens Reach

★
★
★ Princess Louisa Inlet

★
★ Princess Royal Reach

★ Toba Inlet

★ Bute Inlet

★ Knight Inlet

★ Loughborough Inlet

★ Kingcome Inlet

★
★ Wakeman Sound

★ Seymour Inlet

★
★ Belize Inlet

★
★ Nugent Sound

★
★ Nenahimai Lagoon

★
★ Frederick Sound

★ Dean Channel

★
★ Fisher Channel

★
★ Fitz Hugh Sound

★
★ Burke Channel

★
★
★ Kwatna Inlet

★
★
★ Bentinck Arm

★
★
★
★ South Bentinck Arm

★
★
★
★ North Bentinck Arm

★
★ Labouchere Channel

★
★ Rivers Inlet

★ Douglas Channel

★
★ Kitimat Arm

★
★ Devastation Channel

★
★ Gardner Canal

★
★
★ Alan Reach

★
★
★ Europa Reach

★
★
★ Kiltuish Inlet

★
★
★ Barrie Reach

★
★
★ Whidbey Reach

★
★
★
★ Chief Matthews Bay

★
★ Varney Passage

★
★ Ursula Channel

★ Telegraph Passage (Skeena River estuary)

★ Prince Rupert Harbour Port of Prince Rupert

★ Work Channel (pron. "Wark"), backside of Tsimpsean Peninsula

★ Portland Inlet

★
★ Khutzeymateen Inlet

★
★ Portland Canal

★
★ Observatory Inlet

★
★ Nass Bay (Nass River estuary)

★
★ Pearse Canal
The many fjord-like waterways between the coast and the islands, and within the archipelago, cannot be fully listed, and there are many more others which are not so much fjord-like as flooded valleys between what had been mountain peaks many thousands of years ago, when the shoreline was lower.

Major waterways

The waterway route through these islands between Vancouver and Prince Rupert, and between Seattle and Alaska, is known as the Inside Passage. It has played a role in U.S.-Canada relations more than once, from the Klondike Gold Rush to the Salmon War of the 1990s.
Major and important waterways are:

★ Georgia Strait (aka Gulf of Georgia)

★ Sutil Channel

★ Desolation Sound

★ Johnstone Strait

★
★ Robson Bight

★ Discovery Passage

★
★ Seymour Narrows

★ Sutlej Channel

★ Tribune Channel

★ Queen Charlotte Strait

★ Grenville Channel

★ Queen Charlotte Sound

★
★ Hakai Passage

★ Hecate Strait

★ Dixon Entrance
On Vancouver Island:

★ Alberni Inlet

★ Saanich Inlet

★
★ Cook Inlet

★ Clayoquot Sound

★ Barclay Sound

★ Kyuquot Sound

★ Nootka Sound

★ Quatsino Sound

Major islands

★ Vancouver Island

★ Queen Charlotte Islands

★
★ Graham Island

★
★ Moresby Island

★
★ Louise Island

★
★ Lyell Island

★
★ Kunghit Island

★ Porcher Island

★ Pitt Island

★ McCauley Island

★ Banks Island

★ Gil Island (Douglas Channel)

★ Gribbell Island (Douglas Channel)

★ Hawkesbury Island (Douglas Channel)

★ Princess Royal Island

★ Aristazabal Island

★ Price Island

★ Swindle Island

★ Campbell Island (village of Waglisla)

★ Denny Island (village of Bella Bella)

★ Hunter Island

★ King Island (Dean Channel)

★ Calvert Island

★ Caamano Island

★ Malcolm Island (Sointula)

★ Broughton Archipelago

★
★ Broughton Island

★ Gilford Island Knight Inlet

★ West/East Cracroft Islands Knight Inlet

★ Hardwicke Island Johnstone Strait

★ Discovery Islands

★
★ East/West Thurlow Island

★
★ Sonora Island

★
★ Maurelle Island

★
★ Read Island

★
★ La Raza Island

★
★ Quadra Island

★
★ Cortes Island

★
★ East/West Redonda Island

★
★ Hernando Island

★ Stuart Island

★ Rendezvous Islands

★ Northern Gulf Islands:

★
★ Savary Island

★
★ Texada Island

★
★ Lasqueti Island

★
★ Hornby Island

★
★ Denman Island
The above list ends at the northern Strait of Georgia, the last several forming a group known as the northern Gulf Islands. The southern Gulf Islands are as follows:

★ Gabriola Island

★ Valdes Island

★ Thetis Island

★ Kuiper Island

★ Saltspring Island

★ Prevost Island

★ Galiano Island

★ Mayne Island

★ North Pender Island

★ South Pender Island

★ Saturna Island

★ Sidney Island

★ James Island
The Gulf Islands continue southeast across the Haro Straits as the San Juan Islands. See also Puget Sound.
The islands of Howe Sound are classed among the southern Gulf Islands but they adjoin the mainland rather than Vancouver Island and are usually considered separately. They are:

★ Bowen Island

★ Gambier Island

★ Anvil Island (Hat Island)

★ Keats island

★ Bowyer Island
The islands of the Fraser River estuary are:

★ Barnston Island (unincorporated agricultural community)

★ Lulu Island (City of Richmond)

★ Sea Island (YVR Vancouver Airport)

★ Westham Island (wildfowl refuge)

★ Iona Island (Vancouver sewage treatment plant)

★ Deas Island (Hwy 99 tunnel beneath the Fraser)

★ Annacis Island

History

Research from the 1990s has indicated that the Ice Age-era coastline of the British Columbia Coast was much lower - by 100 m. The effect of such a waterlevel on the coastline was such that the Queen Charlotte Strait, which is between Haida Gwaii and the northern end of Vancouver Island, was a coastal plain, as were all the straits inland from it - except for those that were mountain valleys. Underwater archaeology has shown the presence of permanent human habitation and other activity at the 100m contour, and the Ice Age existence of such a coastal plain has put a new light on Ice Age populations in North America as well as on the strong likelihood of this area having been the major migration route from (and perhaps to) Asia.
The heavy indentation and mild climate of the BC Coast have led to inevitable comparisons with the geography's predisposition to encouraging increased human settlement and movement as well as cultural foment and population growth in the Aegean, the Irish Sea/Hebrides and in the Danish Archipelago and adjoining Scandinavian coasts. The natural fecundity of the environment - rich in seafood, game and greenery - combined with the ease of travel (by water) - is seen in all cases (BC, Denmark, Greece) to have generated a dynamic and gifted civilization. And there are comparisons to be made between the artistic and political and social level of the Pacific Northwest Peoples and those of pre-Conversion pagan Scandinavia, Ireland and Archaic-Era Greece.

Fishery

The fishery of the Pacific Northwest Coast is legendary, especially for its many salmon runs and the cultures that built on top of them throughout the region. Salmon runs have greatly diminished since pre-Contact years and the adventu of commercial canning and, ultimately, depletion of stocks by high-seas fishing. Inroads by salmon farming are held to jeopardize the remaining wild stocks.
Other commercial fisheries include halibut, herring and herring roe, sea urchin and other specialty sushis, hake, haddock, cod, crab and shellfish.

Shipping, ferries, and sailing

Scheduled Passenger Services operating on the British Columbia Coast are dominated by BC Ferries and Alaska State Ferries.
Alaska State Ferries operates regular sailings from Bellingham (or Seattle) to Ketchikan, Wrangell, Sitka, Juneau, Skagway, Haines and lesser ports-of-call in the Alaska Panhandle. Alaska State Ferries also operates a vessel from Prince Rupert to Ketchikan and other Panhandle ports.
BC Ferries, a privately-managed Crown Corporation, operates major daily sailings between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island via three routes - Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay, Tsawwassen, British Columbia to Swartz Bay, British Columbia, and Duke Point, British Columbia to Tsawwassen. Dozens of smaller ferries ply lesser routes between the Gulf Islands and the mainland or the "Big Island" as well as on various lakes in the Interior where bridges are not an option are have not yet been built. Other runs connect Horseshoe Bay to the Sunshine Coast and Bowen Island and the lower Sunshine Coast to the Powell River section of that coast farther northwest. From there a ferry operates to Comox.
BC Ferries also operates a sailing from Prince Rupert to Masset on Haida Gwaii as well as a major Inside Passage routing from Kelsey Bay on northern Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert and, in summer season, from Kelsey Bay to Bella Coola via several smaller coastal communities in between.
Other scheduled passenger services are run by various small shipping and watertaxi companies.
Non-scheduled passenger services include all major cruise lines and various small luxury craft harters, as well as shuttles to and from the various coastal resorts.

Coastal communities

★ North Coast

★
★ Stewart

★
★ Prince Rupert

★
★ Terrace

★
★ Masset

★
★ Queen Charlotte City

★
★ Kitimat

★
★ Kemano

★
★ Port Edward

★
★ Lax Kw'alaams (Port Simpson)

★
★ Gingolx (Kincolith)

★
★ Anyox (ghost town)

★ Central Coast

★
★ Ocean Falls

★
★ Bella Bella

★
★ Waglisla

★
★ Namu

★
★ Rivers Inlet

★
★ Hartley Bay

★
★ Bella Coola

★ Northern Vancouver Island-Queen Charlotte Strait

★
★ Mamalilaculla

★
★ Alert Bay

★
★ Port McNeill

★
★ Telegraph Cove

★
★ Port Hardy

★
★ Sointula

★
★ Kelsey Bay

★
★ Sayward

★
★ Tahsis

★ Sunshine Coast

★
★ Powell River

★
★ Sechelt

★
★ Madeira Park

★
★ Gibsons Landing

★
★ Earls Cove

★
★ Saltery Bay

★
★ Lund

★
★ Roberts Creek

★ Northern Gulf Islands:

★
★ Whaletown (Texada Island)

★
★ Lasqueti Island, British Columbia (no town)

★
★ Quadra Island

★
★ Cortes Island

★ Vancouver Island - Strait of Georgia

★
★ Campbell River

★
★ Courtenay-Comox

★
★ Qualicum Beach

★
★ Parksville

★
★ Nanaimo

★
★ Ladysmith

★
★ Chemainus

★
★ Duncan, British Columbia and Cowichan Valley

★
★ Crofton

★
★ Cobble Hill

★
★ Shawnigan Lake

★
★ Bamberton

★
★ Mill Bay

★ Vancouver Island West Coast

★
★ Holberg

★
★ Kyuquot

★
★ Gold River

★
★ Port Alice

★
★ Tofino

★
★ Ucluelet

★
★ Port Alberni

★
★ Sarita

★
★ Bamfield

★
★ Port Renfrew

★
★ River Jordan

★ Greater Victoria

★
★ Western Communities - Greater Victoria West

★
★
★ Sooke

★
★
★ Metchosin

★
★
★ Langford

★
★
★ Colwood, British Columbia

★
★ Saanich Peninsula - Greater Victoria North

★
★
★ Brentwood Bay

★
★
★ Sidney

★ Southern Gulf Islands

★
★ Saltspring Island

★
★
★ Ganges

★
★
★ Fulford Harbour

★
★
★ Vesuvius Bay

★ Greater Vancouver

★ Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca

★ Alaska Panhandle

Resorts and fishing lodges

★ Yellow Point Lodge, Nanaimo

★ Painter's Lodge, Desolation Sound

Coastal First Nations

Nations of the Alaska Panhandle and Georgia Strait-Puget Sound are included as they are part of the same cultural and historical ecumene.

★ Tsouke

★ Songhees (Esquimalt-Victoria)

★ Tsartlip (Saanich Peninsula)

★ Lummi (Whatcom County)

★ Noxws'a7aq (Nooksack people, Whatcom County)

★ Twana

★ Suguamish

★ Tsawwassen people

★ - includes Musqueam, Tseil-wau-tuth (Burrard) and Tsawwassen First Nations.

★ Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish people, Squamish and North Vancouver

★ Shishalh -- Sechelt and lower Sunshine Coast

★ Homalhco (Toba Inlet)

★ Sliammon (Malaspina Peninsula/pper Sunshine Coast)

★ Nuu-chah-nulth (West Coast Vancouver Island)

★
★ Nitinat

★
★ Pacheedaht

★ Cowichan peoples

★ Kwakwaka'wakw Johnstone Strait - Queen Charlotte Strait

★
★ Laich-kwil-tach (Southern Kwakiutl) -- (Weiwaikai on Quadra Island and Weiwaikum in Campbell River); known historically as the Euclataws or Yucultas

★ Heiltsuk

★ Wuikinuxv (aka Owekeeno people, Rivers Inlet)

★ Haisla

★ Nuxálk (Bella Coola and King Island)

★ Tsimshian

★ Haida

★ Nisga'a

★ Tlingit

Provincial and Federal Parks and Preserves

Environmental issues

Environmental hotspots

★ Vancouver Island

★
★ Clayoquot Sound

★
★
★ Meares Island

★
★ Broken Islands Group (Barclay Sound)

★ Georgia Strait-Johnstone Strait

★
★ Robson Bight

★
★ Desolation Sound

★ Puget Sound-Strait of Juan de Fuca

★
★ Victoria, British Columbia (sewage outfall)

★ Central Coast

★
★ Great Bear Rainforest

★
★
★ King Island

★
★ oil & gas drilling proposals

★ North Coast

★
★ Kitlope River

★
★ Khutzeymateen River

★
★ oil & gas drilling proposals

See also

★ Insular Mountains

★
★ Vancouver Island Ranges

★ Coast Mountains

★
★ Pacific Ranges

★
★ Kitimat Ranges

★
★ Boundary Ranges

★ Inside Passage

★ Oregon boundary dispute

★
★ Strait of Juan de Fuca

★
★ Haro Strait

★
★ Rosario Strait

★
★ San Juan Islands Dispute

★
★ Point Roberts, Washington

★ Alaska Boundary Dispute

★
★ Alaska Panhandle

★
★ Dixon Entrance

★
★ A-B Line

★ History of the west coast of North America