The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary is one of 15 marine sanctuaries administered by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditi ...
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
along the
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a ...
of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
state, from
Cape Flattery
Cape Flattery () is the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States. It is in Clallam County, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula, where the Strait of Juan de Fuca joins the Pacific Ocean. It is also part of the Makah Reservation, and ...
in the north, to the mouth of the Copalis River, a distance of about . Extending from the shore, it includes most of the continental shelf, as well as parts of three important
submarine canyon
A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, having nearly vertical walls, and occasionally having canyon wall heights of up to 5 km, from c ...
Juan de Fuca Canyon
Juan de Fuca Channel is a submarine channel off the shore of Washington state, United States and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The geography of Juan de Fuca Channel
The Juan de Fuca Channel is a submarine canyon running from the shelf break, o ...
. For along the coast, the sanctuary shares stewardship with the
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...
. Sanctuary stewardship is also shared with the Hoh, Quileute, and Makah Tribes, as well as the
Quinault Indian Nation
The Quinault Indian Nation ( or ; QIN), formerly known as the Quinault Tribe of the Quinault Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Quinault, Queets, Quileute, Hoh, Chehalis, Chinook, and Cowlitz peoples. The sanctuary overlays the Flattery Rocks, Quillayute Needles, and
Copalis Rock National Wildlife Refuge Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex is an administrative grouping of six National Wildlife Refuges in Washington, managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It includes:
* Flattery Rocks National Wildlife Refuge (, )
...