Samish Bay
{{Short description|Bay of the Salish Sea, northwest Washington, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox body of water
| name = Samish Bay
| location = Skagit County, Washington, United States
| part_of = Salish Sea
| rivers = Samish River
}}
Samish Bay is a bay of the Salish Sea in Skagit County, Washington, United States.{{GNIS|1525399}} It is adjacent to Bellingham Bay and Chuckanut Bay in the north. To the northeast the bay is bordered by Larrabee State Park and the Chuckanut Mountains. To the south the bay is bordered by Samish Island, which despite its name is not an island, but actually a man-made peninsula,{{Cite web |title=About Samish Island |publisher=Samish Island Community Center |url=https://samishisland.net/about-samish-island/ |access-date=August 4, 2023 |language=en-US}} separating the bay from nearby Padilla Bay.
The Samish River is the only river that empties into the bay, although a few small creeks do drain into the bay from within Larrabee State Park. Samish Bay is named after the Samish people, a Coast Salish people of the Pacific Northwest.{{cite book |last=Hitchman |first=Robert |title=Place Names of Washington |year=1985 |publisher=Washington State Historical Society |isbn=0-917048-57-1|page=262}}
Restoration
Agriculture along the Samish River and near Samish Bay contributed to various forms of water pollution.{{cite web |last1=Eaton |first1=Tom |title=Skagit County's Samish Bay shellfish beds deserve better protection, say federal, state and county officials |url=https://www.epa.gov/archive/epapages/newsroom_archive/newsreleases/884d85c8c0926aad852578a70077d347.html |website=www.epa.gov |access-date=March 15, 2025 |date=June 6, 2011}} Bacteria (specifically fecal coliform{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=Sally |title=Samish Bay Watershed Fecal Coliform Bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load - Volume 2 |date=July 2009 |publisher=Washington State Department of Ecology |url=https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/publications/documents/0910019.pdf}}) that has runoff from farmland has negatively impacted shellfish populations in the bay,{{cite news |title=Focus on Samish Watershed |url=https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/publications/documents/0610030.pdf |work=Ecology’s Water Quality Program |agency=Washington State Department of Ecology}} as well as waterfowl habitat. The polluted shellfish have been deemed unsafe for human consumption, causing a recall of previously harvested shellfish, and put a stop to further harvesting.{{cite web |last1=Cauvel |first1=Kimberly |title=Samish Bay oyster recall issued, harvest closed due to bacteria-related illness |url=https://www.goskagit.com/news/environment/samish-bay-oyster-recall-issued-harvest-closed-due-to-bacteria-related-illness/article_cce61fbc-6ef3-5045-9c7d-3e887726590b.html |website=goSkagit |access-date=16 March 2025 |language=en |date=21 July 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Jennifer |title=Samish Bay harvesters face uncertain future after toxins found in shellfish |url=https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/samish-bay-harvesters-face-uncertain-future-after-toxins-found-in-shellfish |access-date=16 March 2025 |work=FOX 13 Seattle |date=2 September 2019}} Skagit County has established an initiative to clean Samish Bay, setting up a hotline for water quality concerns, as well as working with federal, state, Indian tribes, non-governmental organizations, shellfish growers, and private citizens to reduce pollution in the bay.{{cite web |title=Skagit County Natural Resources Management |url=https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/PublicWorksCleanWater/cleansamish.htm |publisher=Skagit County |access-date=March 15, 2025}} In 2004, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife purchased 107-acres of agricultural land next to Samish Bay and established a wildlife area.{{cite web |title=Samish River Wildlife Area Unit |publisher=Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife |url=https://wdfw.wa.gov/places-to-go/wildlife-areas/samish-river-wildlife-area-unit |access-date=March 15, 2025}} As of 2010 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded more than $90 million dollars to go towards cleaning the bay. As of 2023 Amazon has put forward $200,000 in funding towards introducing oysters back into the bay.{{cite news |last1=Zucco |first1=Erica |title=Project to restore the west coast's only native oyster is underway at Samish Bay |url=https://www.king5.com/article/tech/science/environment/restore-olympia-oysters-samish-bay/281-315d711f-f40b-48c6-af1d-ed9456602e20 |access-date=16 March 2025 |work=king5.com |date=1 August 2023}}
See also
Further reading
- [https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD0638125.pdf University of Washington Oceanographic Survey of the Bellingham-Samish Bay System]
References
{{Puget Sound}}
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{{Coord|48|36|20.4|N|122|31|00.6|W|region:US_type:waterbody|display=title}}
{{SkagitCountyWA-geo-stub}}
{{WhatcomCountyWA-geo-stub}}
Category:Bays of Washington (state)
Category:Bodies of water of Skagit County, Washington