Alaska’s Bristol Bay, the world’s largest wild salmon fishery, is today endangered by Bush administration decisions that still guide management in the area. Nearly 100 percent of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Bristol Bay were opened for development without providing any protections for the critical salmon spawning habitat. The best hope to save this irreplaceable fishery is to ask President Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to reconsider these misguided Bush era decisions.
Millions of salmon return to Bristol Bay each year to spawn, creating not only the world’s largest wild salmon runs, but also the largest commercial sockeye salmon fishery on earth. Five species of Pacific salmon are found in the Bay Region, which accounts for more than 55 percent of wild sockeye salmon production in the world. In addition to sport and commercial fishing, these public lands also support Alaska Native cultures, abundant wildlife, and sustainable recreation and hunting economies.
The BLM’s management plans under the Bush administration placed a higher value on short-sighted, boom-and-bust mineral development than on safeguarding healthy lands for future generations. Bristol Bay lands are under intense threat by development proposals for off-shore oil and gas drilling and the Pebble Mine Project on adjacent state lands.
Fortunately, the Obama administration realizes they inherited some flawed BLM management decisions providing an opening to save Bristol Bay. Send a message to Secretary Salazar urging him to conduct a full review of the careless management plan devised by the Bush administration.
The current plan guides management of these public lands for 20 years, which is ample time to bring about the demise of the nation’s largest salmon runs. You can help stop this tragedy from happening by speaking out today for their conservation.
