Johnstone Strait

---

title: "Johnstone Strait" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["landforms-of-the-discovery-islands", "straits-of-british-columbia", "bodies-of-water-of-vancouver-island", "central-coast-of-british-columbia"] description: "Waterway between northern Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia, Canada" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstone_Strait" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Waterway between northern Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia, Canada ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox body of water"]

Field	Value
name	Johnstone Strait
other_name
image	Pacific Ranges over Johnstone Strait.jpg
image_size	250px
caption	Johnstone Strait backdropped by the Vancouver Island Ranges
image_bathymetry	Carte baie Knight.png
caption_bathymetry	Map of Johnstone Strait (bottom) and the surrounding islands and inlets
location	British Columbia, Canada
coordinates
type	Channel
oceans	Pacific Ocean
catchment
date-built
date-flooded
length
width
area
depth
max-depth
volume
shore
elevation
temperature_high
temperature_low
pushpin_map	British Columbia
pushpin_map_caption	Location in British Columbia
::

| name = Johnstone Strait | native_name = | native_name_lang = | other_name = | image = Pacific Ranges over Johnstone Strait.jpg | image_size = 250px | alt = | caption = Johnstone Strait backdropped by the Vancouver Island Ranges | image_bathymetry = Carte baie Knight.png | alt_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = Map of Johnstone Strait (bottom) and the surrounding islands and inlets | location = British Columbia, Canada | group = | coordinates = | type = Channel | etymology = | part_of = | inflow = | rivers = | outflow = | oceans = Pacific Ocean | catchment = | basin_countries = | agency = | designation = | date-built = | engineer = | date-flooded = | length = | width = | area = | depth = | max-depth = | volume = | residence_time = | salinity = | shore = | elevation = | temperature_high = | temperature_low = | frozen = | islands = | islands_category = | sections = | trenches = | benches = | cities = | pushpin_map = British Columbia | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = Location in British Columbia | website = | reference = The Johnstone Strait () is a 110 km channel along the north east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Opposite the Vancouver Island coast, running north to south, are Hanson Island, West Cracroft Island, the mainland British Columbia Coast, Hardwicke Island, West Thurlow Island and East Thurlow Island. At that point, the strait meets the Discovery Passage which connects to the Georgia Strait.

Name origin

The Strait was named by Vancouver for James Johnstone, master of the armed tender Chatham. In 1792, his survey party established that Vancouver Island was an island.

Geography

The strait is between 2.5 km and 5 km wide. It is a major navigation channel on the west coast of North America. It is the preferred channel for vessels from the Strait of Georgia leaving to the north of Vancouver Island through the Queen Charlotte Strait bound for Prince Rupert, Haida Gwaii, Alaska, and the North Pacific Ocean, and for southbound vessels from those areas bound for the ports of Vancouver, Seattle and Tacoma.

There are no cities or towns along the length of the strait. Telegraph Cove and Robson Bight on Vancouver Island are along the strait near its north end and the village of Sayward on Kelsey Bay is near its midpoint.

Ecology

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Orca_johnstone_strait.jpg" caption="Johnstone Strait is the summer home to a large population of [[orca]]s."] ::

During the summer months, the Strait is home to approximately 150 orcas, which are often seen by kayakers and boaters packed with tourists.

Scientists including Michael Bigg and Paul Spong have been researching the orcas in the Strait since 1970. Spong established the OrcaLab, based on studying the Orcas in their natural habitat without interfering with their lives or their habitat. The strait includes the Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve.

References

References

1. {{BCGNIS. 12009. Johnstone Strait
2. Walbran, Captain John T.. (1971). "British Columbia Place Names, Their Origin and History". Douglas & McIntyre.
3. Robson, John. (2007). "Hakluyt edition of Vancouver's journals". W. Kaye Lamb, editor, Vol. 2, p 616.
4. [http://www.orcalab.org Orcalab.org]

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::