Bamfield

History

Bamfield was populated by Huu-ay-aht of the Nuu-chah-nulth, the local Indigenous people. Europeans founded a small fishing community sometime in the late 1800s. Most of the Indigenous people now live in the neighbouring village of Anacla about 5 kilometres from Bamfield. Bamfield was named after the first government agent of the area, William Eddy Banfield. The name "Bamfield" with an "m" is said to have occurred either because of how the Huu-ay-aht had pronounced the agent's name, or it was a mistake made by the postal organization. In 1902, the Bamfield cable station was constructed as the western terminus of a worldwide undersea telegraph cable called the All Red Line by some, as it passed only through countries and territories controlled by the British Empire, which were coloured red on maps of the time. The cable initially went to Fanning Island, a tiny coral atoll in the mid-Pacific, and from there continued to Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. On May 16, 1915, American newspapers reported that an enemy Demo team had tried to land at Bamfield but was scared off by the military guards. A second building, made of concrete, was built on the site in 1926 to replace the old wood structure. This building, designated a historic site in 1930, is now used by the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. During the early years of World War II, Cable & Wireless' cable station was shelled by an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine from nearby Barkley Sound without any major damage being inflicted, however the Canadian Government arranged for a company of troops to be based there until the end of that conflict. A Marine and Fisheries lifesaving station on the Pacific coast was established at Bamfield in 1907. It was the first lifesaving station on Canada's Pacific Coast. In 1953…

Most-observed species

• ocean shrimp

  Pandalus jordani M.J.Rathbun, 1902 · Malacostraca
  4,208
• sidestripe shrimp

  Pandalus dispar (M.J.Rathbun, 1902) · Malacostraca
  1,385
• ochre stars

  Pisaster ochraceus (Brandt, 1835) · Asteroidea
  1,233
• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  777
• Glaucous-winged Gull

  Larus glaucescens J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  673
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  601
• giant green anemone

  Anthopleura xanthogrammica (Brandt, 1835) · Anthozoa
  579
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  523

Most recent

• M 3.18 — 2026-09-15
  21 km SSW of Ucluelet, Canada
• M 3.7 — 2025-08-19
  17 km NNW of Sekiu, Washington
• M 3 — 2025-05-01
  19 km E of Ucluelet, Canada
• M 2.57 — 2024-10-29
  34 km WSW of Neah Bay, Washington
• M 2.58 — 2024-08-07
  26 km S of Ucluelet, Canada
• M 2.6 — 2024-01-22
  21 km WSW of Neah Bay, Washington