The fish come first.

Since 2011, Salmonfest — originally known as Salmonstock — has collaborated with frontline organizations to protect and preserve Bristol Bay, home to the world's largest wild salmon fishery. This mission resonates strongly in Alaska, where over 60% of residents oppose the Pebble Mine project.

The reason is clear: healthy fish and wildlife habitats are essential to healthy human environments. Vital ecosystem services like water filtration, flood control, and food chain productivity all stem from robust natural habitats. Natural resource economists have valued healthy ecosystems at trillions of dollars.

The Bristol Bay fishery provides a healthy and sustainable source of wild salmon, supplying up to 40% of the world's sockeye/red salmon market. The fishery generates an estimated $1.5 Billion in revenue and supports over 14,000 jobs. Alaska is responsible for 75% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. — worth $16 billion annually — and creates 100,000 U.S. jobs.

The proposed Pebble Mine will generate 10 billion tons of toxic mine waste that will have to be treated for thousands of years — a direct and existential threat to the Yup'ik, Dena'ina, and Alutiiq cultures whose traditional way of life has been sustained on these lands for 10,000 years.