Saratoga Passage Marine Stewardship Area

This sheltered passage is sometimes called the salmon highway for its many excellent forage fish spawning beaches and nearly continuous eelgrass beds, which provide food and refuge to migrating salmon. Three large fish-producing river systems open into Saratoga Passage and nearby Port Susan -- the Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish.

Small estuaries, lagoons and creek mouths dot the shore, giving young salmon a place to rest and adjust to saltwater after leaving their rivers. Glacial bluffs slough till to the beaches, replenishing spawning gravels for the sand lance and surf smelt on which thet rely.

Orcas, grey whales, sea lions and birds frequent these beaches and marine waters. Much of the county's shoreline development has centered on this passage since early Salish times and continues today with all five of the county's cities and towns - Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Freeland, Langley and Clinton. This quiet inland sea was trafficked by canoes, tall ships, mosquito fleet steamers and sternwheelers before today's sail and powerboats.

Saratoga Passage Marine Stewardship Area spans all the inland waters of Island County from Deception Pass and Skagit Bay in the north to Port Susan in the east and Possession Point in the south.

Interpretive signage is one of the ways we are telling the story of the Saratoga Passage Marine Stewardship Area. In 2007 we installed signage at more than a dozen state, county and city parks on Whidbey and Camano islands to help the public better understand our county's marine resources and the interrelationship of marine life and habitat.

At Coupeville Wharf we installed a set of three panels along the pedestrian walkway, in partnership with the Port of Coupeville.

Saratoga Passage Stewardship Area panel
Penn Cove history panel
Penn Cove marine life panel