We know the Bristol Bay landscape as nutem ellat: the world that has always been. It has always provided for us, a reliable cache that’s taken from carefully each year by people who live there and then restocked by nature. Salmon, moose, caribou, porcupine, beaver, and berries help us survive through the winter. Returning salmon feed the entire web of life in Bristol Bay, from eagles to next year’s fingerlings. When spring arrives, you can feel everybody and everything yearning for the return of those nutrients.
But the reliable returns, even in the healthy land and waters in Bristol Bay, are now in question. Despite the success of red fish runs, our king salmon runs have been varying wildly, with several lean fishing years recently. Changing oceans are to blame, say the scientists.
And now Pebble Mine once again threatens to turn the Bristol Bay headwaters into an industrial mining district.
That’s why we’ve come to Juneau, along with other elders, young people and leaders from all across rural Alaska. We need stronger protections for salmon across the state — we need House Bill 199, the Wild Salmon Legacy Act. To ensure that the land that has always been there for us continues to provide for our way of life.
Creating enforceable and responsible development standards is one concrete thing we can do for rural Alaska, amongst all the uncertainty in our changing natural world. With clear rules on how to build around salmon habitat, we can protect our foodsheds in rural communities across the state.
It’s not only Bristol Bay that’s threatened by irresponsible development and foreign mining companies. Community leaders from the Interior are concerned about irresponsible mining, especially after suffering through low Yukon king and chum runs for so many years. And down here in Southeast, there’s a legacy of abandoned mines that continue to pollute communities and seafood.
Alaska did a great thing when it became a state: it reserved fish, game and rivers for the people. Every year, we engage in a vigorous and healthy debate about how best to manage fish and game. In our region, we are constantly talking about how much salmon to catch and how much to let upriver to spawn.
What we’ve neglected for most of these 60 years is a debate about the rules for protecting those waters — especially salmon spawning and rearing grounds. For the last two years, the debate has been growing. Tens of thousands of us have urged action to protect salmon streams. House Bill 199 is a good solution, providing an answer that fishing communities like ours can live with, while ensuring all communities can grow and prosper.
We have been teaching our grandchildren how to live their lives with and from the land, water and air as we have always done. We see other families in our community teaching their youth to catch, make and share food to take care of each other too. Not only is there sharing in our community, but between other villages as well. The land gives us the ability to share, but unless we do something, much of this land that has always been here for us won’t survive another generation. Now is our chance, for our family, community and for all of Alaska to continue this way of life-Yuuyaraq.
Tim and Mary Wonhola worked in commercial fishing in Bristol Bay for a long time — dating back to the days of sailboat fishing. They still fish, hunt and gather food at Lewis Point.
