Video

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.

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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Authors

Jenny Rowland-Shea

Director, Public Lands

Miriam Goldstein

Former Senior Director for Conservation Policy; Senior Fellow

Sally Hardin

Former Senior Director, Energy and Environment Campaigns

Producer

Toni Pandolfo

Video Producer, Production

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