NOOTKA SOUND is one of 5 major sounds indenting the west coast of VANCOUVER ISLAND. Capt James COOK named it after what he mistakenly believed the local people called it. Cook, who arrived with 2 ships in 1778, was the first European in the sound. One result of his visit was the beginning of a trade in SEA OTTER pelts; another was a diplomatic squabble between England and Spain over competing claims to the coast (see NOOTKA SOUND CONTROVERSY). The sound was home to the Mowachaht and Muchalaht, two NUU-CHAH-NULTH groups, whose village at YUQUOT has been inhabited for thousands of years. Following contact, and the subsequent depopulation due to disease, the Muchalaht merged with the Mowachaht, then relocated to a RESERVE near GOLD RIVER. Later they were called the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. The sound, with its spectacular mountain scenery, has 3 main arms that penetrate inland: TAHSIS, Tlupana and MUCHALAT inlets. A SALMON CANNERY operated on Nootka Island (526 sq km) until the 1950s and a limestone quarry up Tlupana Inlet provided material for the legislative buildings in VICTORIA, but LOGGING was the main economic activity starting in the 1930s. The MV UCHUCK III supplies the various villages and camps.