Our mission is to protect the world’s salmon strongholds.
Defending Bristol Bay
Location: Bristol Bay, Alaska
Photo Credit: Ben Knight
Action Needed
Support the Bristol Bay Forever Act
New state legislation aims to save the world’s greatest wild sockeye fishery from the type of mining most harmful to salmon.
Location: Bristol Bay, Alaska
Photo Credit: Cassie Bergman
Our Goal
Protect Bristol Bay for Generations
Journey to a stronghold standout
Location: Bristol Bay, Alaska
Photo Credit: Jason Ching
Bristol Bay is Forever
Bristol Bay's Biggest Threat
Hardrock mining is the single greatest threat to the planet’s most productive wild sockeye salmon fishery. Yet for decades, mining interests have ramped up pressure to exploit Bristol Bay’s mineral deposits.
What We’re Doing Daily
To defend Bristol Bay, we work in three key areas.
Keeping Bristol Bay Mine-Free
Despite relentless industry pressure, Bristol Bay still remains off-limits to the Pebble Mine and mines like it.
Rallying Salmon Fans
Our powerful coalition of commercial, Tribal, and sport fishers has rallied millions of people to stand up for Bristol Bay.
Fighting for Permanent Protections
From Juneau to Washington, D.C., we want policies to protect the world’s best wild salmon fishery forever.
The Impact at Home
Protecting Bristol Bay benefits salmon and entire communities.
$2.2 Billion in Economic Impact
Commercial, recreational, and sport fishing in Bristol Bay employ 21,000 people and power a thriving regional economy.
A Sustainable Global Food Source
Bristol Bay supplies as much as 57 percent of the world’s sockeye salmon catch.
A Way of Life
For Bristol Bay’s 31 federally-recognized Alaska Native Tribes, subsistence fishing is a tradition that goes back millennia.
Bristol Bay Project Timeline
For more than 30 years, Wild Salmon Center has built a conservation strategy driven by grit, science, and trust.
What's Next
Permanent, layered protections for the world's most productive salmon fishery.
We’re working with Alaskans to pass the Bristol Bay Forever Act to stop Pebble Mine and mines like it within the Bristol Bay fishery, while supporting the Trump Administration in defending federal protections.
2025
Alaska Legislature introduces the Bristol Bay Forever Act
State lawmakers introduced the Bristol Bay Forever Act. This bill aims to safeguard the entire, 36,000-square-mile Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve from all large-scale metallic sulfide mining: the type of mining most harmful to salmon.
2025
Trump admin will defend decisions stopping Pebble
Past decisions the defend Bristol Bay are being challenged in federal court by Pebble backer Northern Dynasty Minerals. Wild Salmon Center and our partners in the Bristol Bay Defense Fund will fight alongside the full force of the U.S. government to ensure that mining threats never again put this irreplaceable salmon stronghold at risk.
2023
EPA final determination to stop the Pebble Mine
In January 2023, in its final determination, EPA announced protections that will safeguard 200,000 acres at the headwaters of Alaska’s Nushagak and Kvichak Rivers.
2022
Widespread support
EPA releases a proposed determination for protecting Bristol Bay; the agency receives 500,000 public comments in favor of protection.
2021
EPA restarts protections
EPA announces it will restart the process to protect Bristol Bay under the Clean Water Act.
2020
Army Corps pauses project
Following the science, the Trump Administration’s Army Corps of Engineers denies Pebble a key permit for construction.
Leaked “Pebble Tapes” also revealed mine executives’ lies about the true size of the mine concept.
2019
New coalition
Wild Salmon Center and partners launch the Bristol Bay Defense Fund, securing new funding and building salmon champions across the political spectrum.
2017
Reversal
Pebble persuades the EPA to halt the Clean Water Act protections process; Pebble seeks federal permits for construction under an expedited schedule.
2014
EPA ruling blocked
EPA moves Clean Water Act protections forward, following supportive comments from 1 million Americans. But Pebble successfully sues to block further EPA action.
2014
Political allies
Wild Salmon Center, Senator Maria Cantwell, and fishing families from across the
Northwest rally for Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay in Seattle’s Fishermen’s Terminal.
2012
Wild Salmon Center leads science
Wild Salmon Center publishes Bristol Bay’s Wild Salmon Ecosystems and the Pebble Mine, the first technical report to lay out the mine’s risk to the region’s wild salmon fisheries.
2010
Call on EPA to take action
Six Bristol Bay Tribes, along with commercial and recreational fishers, ask the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to use its Clean Water Act authority to protect Bristol Bay.
2001
Mining claims
Canada-based Northern Dynasty (backer of the Pebble Limited Partnership) announces plans for a vast gold, copper, and molybdenum mine in Alaska, at the headwaters of Bristol Bay’s Nushagak and Kvichak Rivers.
News From Bristol Bay
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