People who live or work in Bristol Bay remember the day they heard about the proposed Pebble Mine. We remember where we were, who we were with, maybe even what we ate that day.
For fishermen and Native Alaskans who depend on the Bristol Bay salmon fishery for work and subsistence, the idea of putting the largest mine in North America in the headwaters of our spawning streams was unthinkable. Bristol Bay salmon generate around $500 million in annual economic benefits and over 12,000 seasonal jobs.
Anchorage – Responding to the Environmental Protection Agency’s release of a scientific assessment of Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, commercial fishermen in Alaska and across the country are urging the EPA to uphold standards under the Clean Water Act and take action to protect the fishery from any adverse impacts associated with large-scale mine development. The report confirms that large-scale hard rock mining threatens America’s largest salmon run and the thousands of salmon jobs and industry that depend upon it.
“The EPA’s scientific report makes it clear Pebble Mine’s plan to dig a hole displacing 10 billion tons of waste material is bad for Bristol Bay’s fish and salmon habitat,” said Lindsey Bloom, a leader of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay, a national coalition of 95 American commercial fishing organizations and industry-related businesses. “The EPA should take the next logical step and prohibit or restrict toxic mine waste in the Bristol Bay watershed.”
The first directed Chinook fishery on the Taku and Stikine kings occurred on May 7th. The Taku (District 11-B) fishery was open for 12 hours and harvested a preliminary estimate of 150 kings from 42 boats. The pre-season US allowable catch of Taku kings is 6,703. Another opening of 12 hours is scheduled on Monday, May 14th.
The State of Alaska is holding a couple of oil and gas lease sales today that include millions of acres offshore and onshore in the Bristol Bay and Alaska Peninsula regions.
Small towns from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to the far-flung Aleutian Islands are some of the trickiest areas to get to and by aircraft is often the only means to do so. Improving access, safety and economic benefits are driving renovations moving forward in several such places this year.
A group of studies says that salmon raised in man-made hatcheries can harm wild salmon through competition for food and habitat. Salmon, which survived millions of years of evolution, are in danger from...salmon.
Upscale seafood markets and restaurants in Alaska and around the country are getting ready to go wild to buy up and cook wild Copper River red and king salmon in a tasty rite of spring. The first 12-hour commercial fishing opener begins at 7 a.m. Thursday, just 41 hours after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened the Copper River district for a seven-hour subsistence fishing opening.
ANCHORAGE — A Canada-based mining company eyeing development of a huge copper and gold deposit near one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries said Tuesday that $107 million has been allocated to prepare the mine for permitting later this year.
The Alaska Board of Fisheries held a meeting Wednesday morning to consider moving the December meeting from Naknek to Anchorage. The December meeting is specifically focused on Bristol Bay. KDLG's Mike Mason has the story.
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency answered questions from Senators Wednesday during testimony in front of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. KDLG's Mike Mason listened in and filed this report.
Waste of our Alaskan fishery resources is in the news again as the North Pacific Fishery Management Council approaches its June 6 meeting. A proposal has finally reached the table to reduce bycatch by 15 percent.
A record six populations of fish returned to healthy levels in 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported to Congress on Monday. NOAA’s Fisheries Service said the count showed that its controversial and often unpopular catch limits have been working.
Among the rebuilt populations are the Bering Sea snow crab, the summer flounder along the mid-Atlantic, the haddock in the Gulf of Maine, the Chinook salmon along the Northern California coast, the coho salmon off Washington State and the Pacific widow rockfish, the Fisheries Service said.
Snow crab fishermen hard hit by record breaking ice conditions are getting a partial reprieve with an extension of the eastern sub-district of the Bering Sea fishery through May 31.
An international conservation organization based in Portland, Ore., said today (May 18) there is mounting evidence that salmon raised in hatcheries can harm wild salmon through competition for food and habitat.
Indications are that EPA will soon release a draft of their Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment - possibly during the week of May 14th. The release of this scientific analysis marks the beginning of a 60-day public comment period.
Following public comment and rigorous peer review, EPA will decide whether or not to pro-actively restrict certain dredge and fill actions to protect the commercial fishery and essential salmon habitat.
A consulting firm recommended sweeping changes centered on improving transparency and increasing stakeholder participation after completing a performance review of the International Pacific Halibut Commission.
Concur Inc. submitted its review April 30, and conducted a webinar May 7 presenting its findings with 12 recommendations to bring one of the world’s oldest and most well-respected fisheries management bodies in line with the best practices of today.
Several Alaska communities are vying for the title of "Ultimate Fishing Town," a recognition that comes with $25,000 to be used for local fishing-related projects.
Filmakers from a German public television station have been in Dillingham this week, preparing to do a documentary on the Herring fishery around Togiak when it opens. KDLG’s Dave Bendinger sat down with them to find out how things are going.
No one really knows what's causing one of Alaska's most prized catches to slowly disappear. All anyone can be sure of is that something is interfering with the annual return of Alaska’s mightiest fish, the king salmon, to Alaska's mightiest river, the Yukon.
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew medevaced three crewmembers off the Seattle-based fishing vessel Alaska Juris 80 miles north of Cold Bay Thursday.
The aircrew safely hoisted the three crewmembers from the 218-foot catcher/processor, where they were reportedly exposed to an ammonia leak on the vessel, and then transported them to Cold Bay where a Kodiak-based Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane crew was waiting to take them to Anchorage for medical attention.
For the first time ever, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has extended the snow crab season. ADF&G announced Tuesday morning that it would keep some fishing grounds scheduled to close on May 15 open for an extra two weeks.
The organization that represents all of the drift-net permit holders in Bristol Bay will be spending over $500-thousand dollars to fund several projects this summer in the Bay. KDLG's Mike Mason has the details.
Faced with the prospect of a poor salmon season in 1981, I crewed with some friends of mine for the Togiak (western Bristol Bay) herring fishery. The boat, the Ms B Haven and my friends were primarily Bristol Bay salmon fishermen. They told me that during the salmon season the numerous Italian and equally numerous Croatian fishermen were always disparaging each others ethnicity on the radio.
People who live or work in Bristol Bay remember the day they heard about the proposed Pebble Mine. We remember where we were, who we were with, maybe even what we ate that day.
For fishermen and Native Alaskans who depend on the Bristol Bay salmon fishery for work and subsistence, the idea of putting the largest mine in North America in the headwaters of our spawning streams was unthinkable. Bristol Bay salmon generate around $500 million in annual economic benefits and over 12,000 seasonal jobs.
Anchorage – Responding to the Environmental Protection Agency’s release of a scientific assessment of Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, commercial fishermen in Alaska and across the country are urging the EPA to uphold standards under the Clean Water Act and take action to protect the fishery from any adverse impacts associated with large-scale mine development. The report confirms that large-scale hard rock mining threatens America’s largest salmon run and the thousands of salmon jobs and industry that depend upon it.
“The EPA’s scientific report makes it clear Pebble Mine’s plan to dig a hole displacing 10 billion tons of waste material is bad for Bristol Bay’s fish and salmon habitat,” said Lindsey Bloom, a leader of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay, a national coalition of 95 American commercial fishing organizations and industry-related businesses. “The EPA should take the next logical step and prohibit or restrict toxic mine waste in the Bristol Bay watershed.”
The first directed Chinook fishery on the Taku and Stikine kings occurred on May 7th. The Taku (District 11-B) fishery was open for 12 hours and harvested a preliminary estimate of 150 kings from 42 boats. The pre-season US allowable catch of Taku kings is 6,703. Another opening of 12 hours is scheduled on Monday, May 14th.
The State of Alaska is holding a couple of oil and gas lease sales today that include millions of acres offshore and onshore in the Bristol Bay and Alaska Peninsula regions.
Small towns from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to the far-flung Aleutian Islands are some of the trickiest areas to get to and by aircraft is often the only means to do so. Improving access, safety and economic benefits are driving renovations moving forward in several such places this year.
A group of studies says that salmon raised in man-made hatcheries can harm wild salmon through competition for food and habitat. Salmon, which survived millions of years of evolution, are in danger from...salmon.
Upscale seafood markets and restaurants in Alaska and around the country are getting ready to go wild to buy up and cook wild Copper River red and king salmon in a tasty rite of spring. The first 12-hour commercial fishing opener begins at 7 a.m. Thursday, just 41 hours after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened the Copper River district for a seven-hour subsistence fishing opening.
ANCHORAGE — A Canada-based mining company eyeing development of a huge copper and gold deposit near one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries said Tuesday that $107 million has been allocated to prepare the mine for permitting later this year.
The Alaska Board of Fisheries held a meeting Wednesday morning to consider moving the December meeting from Naknek to Anchorage. The December meeting is specifically focused on Bristol Bay. KDLG's Mike Mason has the story.
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency answered questions from Senators Wednesday during testimony in front of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. KDLG's Mike Mason listened in and filed this report.
Waste of our Alaskan fishery resources is in the news again as the North Pacific Fishery Management Council approaches its June 6 meeting. A proposal has finally reached the table to reduce bycatch by 15 percent.
A record six populations of fish returned to healthy levels in 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported to Congress on Monday. NOAA’s Fisheries Service said the count showed that its controversial and often unpopular catch limits have been working.
Among the rebuilt populations are the Bering Sea snow crab, the summer flounder along the mid-Atlantic, the haddock in the Gulf of Maine, the Chinook salmon along the Northern California coast, the coho salmon off Washington State and the Pacific widow rockfish, the Fisheries Service said.
Snow crab fishermen hard hit by record breaking ice conditions are getting a partial reprieve with an extension of the eastern sub-district of the Bering Sea fishery through May 31.
An international conservation organization based in Portland, Ore., said today (May 18) there is mounting evidence that salmon raised in hatcheries can harm wild salmon through competition for food and habitat.
Indications are that EPA will soon release a draft of their Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment - possibly during the week of May 14th. The release of this scientific analysis marks the beginning of a 60-day public comment period.
Following public comment and rigorous peer review, EPA will decide whether or not to pro-actively restrict certain dredge and fill actions to protect the commercial fishery and essential salmon habitat.
A consulting firm recommended sweeping changes centered on improving transparency and increasing stakeholder participation after completing a performance review of the International Pacific Halibut Commission.
Concur Inc. submitted its review April 30, and conducted a webinar May 7 presenting its findings with 12 recommendations to bring one of the world’s oldest and most well-respected fisheries management bodies in line with the best practices of today.
Several Alaska communities are vying for the title of "Ultimate Fishing Town," a recognition that comes with $25,000 to be used for local fishing-related projects.
Filmakers from a German public television station have been in Dillingham this week, preparing to do a documentary on the Herring fishery around Togiak when it opens. KDLG’s Dave Bendinger sat down with them to find out how things are going.
No one really knows what's causing one of Alaska's most prized catches to slowly disappear. All anyone can be sure of is that something is interfering with the annual return of Alaska’s mightiest fish, the king salmon, to Alaska's mightiest river, the Yukon.
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew medevaced three crewmembers off the Seattle-based fishing vessel Alaska Juris 80 miles north of Cold Bay Thursday.
The aircrew safely hoisted the three crewmembers from the 218-foot catcher/processor, where they were reportedly exposed to an ammonia leak on the vessel, and then transported them to Cold Bay where a Kodiak-based Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane crew was waiting to take them to Anchorage for medical attention.
For the first time ever, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has extended the snow crab season. ADF&G announced Tuesday morning that it would keep some fishing grounds scheduled to close on May 15 open for an extra two weeks.
The organization that represents all of the drift-net permit holders in Bristol Bay will be spending over $500-thousand dollars to fund several projects this summer in the Bay. KDLG's Mike Mason has the details.
Faced with the prospect of a poor salmon season in 1981, I crewed with some friends of mine for the Togiak (western Bristol Bay) herring fishery. The boat, the Ms B Haven and my friends were primarily Bristol Bay salmon fishermen. They told me that during the salmon season the numerous Italian and equally numerous Croatian fishermen were always disparaging each others ethnicity on the radio.
