Swinomish Channel

The Swinomish Channel is an 11-mile (18 km) long[1] salt-water channel in Washington state, United States, which connects Skagit Bay to the south and Padilla Bay to the north, separating Fidalgo Island from mainland Skagit County.

[2] The Swinomish Channel is the smallest of the three entrances to Puget Sound—the other two being Deception Pass and Admiralty Inlet.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers used dredging and diking to create a navigable channel, completed in 1937 during the Great Depression.

[4] The channel is heavily used by fishing boats, tugs, recreational craft, and shallow-draft freight vessels.

In 2012 the Army Corps of Engineers received funding from Congress for another dredging project, which was finished in January 2013.