The Fishermen in Bristol Bay

Protecting Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine is a Big Issue. In fact, it’s the conservation issue of our time. If we falter here, we will have laid down our rods at the feet of a multi-national corporation with a poor track record of pollution. We will have risked a place that provides 40% of the wild sockeye the world eats. As fishermen we will have accepted that one of the last places that is dam and hatchery-free, with runs averaging 40 million salmon a year, is worth risking.

Up to 60 million wild sockeye salmon return every year to Bristol Bay, and the trophy fishing draws anglers from all over the world. Bristol Bay’s clean waters and vast fisheries are threatened by the Pebble Mine, a proposed copper and gold mine at the headwaters of the largest salmon fishery in the world. Bristol Bay is that special place where you can catch five types of salmon, plus rainbows, Dolly’s, char, northern pike, lake trout and grayling. It is home to a $100 million-a-year sportfishing industry and a $400 million-a-year commercial fishery. In Washington and Oregon alone, fishermen bought over 45,000 Alaska fishing licenses in 2010, and we own more than 900 commercial fishing permits in Bristol Bay.

Covering a footprint of approximately 150 square miles, including an open pit crater more than 1700 feet deep, Pebble Mine will be the largest hard rock mine in North America. With it will come massive ponds with 700-foot high earthen dams to store the waste, bringing all the pollution risks and water consumption that comes with mining at this massive scale.

Well, it’s not worth those risks and we need everyone’s help to protect this special place. So, if you’ve already signed a petition, or made a contribution or friended Save Bristol Bay on Facebook, thank you. Now, please join us at the Save Bristol Bay Road Show stop nearest to you and bring some friends. Remember, it’s free.