It’s Time To Protect Bristol Bay

The EPA should protect Bristol Bay under the Clean Water Act to ensure that its waters can continue to support local fisheries, Indigenous tribes, and the Alaskan economy.

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice, Clean Energy, Conservation, Environmental and Climate Justice +1 More

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Bristol Bay, home to 31 tribes and the most abundant salmon fishery in the world, has been threatened by the mining industry for more than two decades. Southwest Alaska’s economy relies on the bay’s sustainable fishery, which supports 15,000 jobs and generates more than $2 billion in revenue annually. Bristol Bay produces 50 percent of the world’s wild sockeye salmon, making the need for durable protections a global concern. President Joe Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative emphasizes support for the priorities of tribal nations and locally led conservation. Under that framework, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must use its authority under the Clean Water Act to protect the fisheries and communities that depend on Bristol Bay’s 30 million sockeye salmon.

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