Page 53 - Breath of the Bear

Salmon State Drew Hamilton

In Bristol Bay, it’s no exaggeration to say that
wild salmon make everything possible.
“The salmon returning home make such a big
impact on life out there,” Michelle Ravenmoon,
artist and Pope Vannoy, Lake Iliamna resident,
told us. “It’s not just that we’re harvesting, and
we’re busy, and the smokehouse is going…
but just seeing the immenseness of them….
Growing up, I sat and watched the salmon as they
returned. I see the babies lingering around when
the salmon are young. I’ve watched them in every
part of their life where I could. We hang out with
them all the time. We swim with them. They’re
not separate from us. They’re part of our family.”
One of five species of wild Alaska salmon,
sockeye weigh between four and 15 pounds and
are a sleek silver in the ocean, where Bristol Bay’s
fleet of fishermen sustainably catch them under
carefully regulated and monitored quotas. As Bristol, executive director of SalmonState, an footprints ground deep by generations before
they continue toward the fresh water — salmon organization that works to keep Alaska a place them. At McNeil River State Game Sanctuary
have sensitive noses and are able to detect as where wild salmon and the people whose lives and Refuge, as many as 74 bears have been seen
little as one drop of the water of their birth stream are interconnected with them continue to thrive. fishing at the same time. Bears travel throughout
in 250 gallons of water — salmon are harvested “A record-breaking 79 million sockeye salmon the Bristol Bay watershed, moving from stream to
by Yup’ik, Dena’ina, and Alutiiq fishermen, returned to Bristol Bay in 2022. In a time many stream, following the salmon.
feeding families and sustaining traditional ways populations of animals are dealing with increased “When people come to Alaska,” photographer
of life. threats, Bristol Bay sockeye salmon are thriving and wildlife guide Drew Hamilton says, “the first
As they spend longer in Bristol Bay’s network — and that’s because of the region’s, clean, cold questions they ask are: where can I get some
of pristine salmon rivers, they turn crimson, nestle and healthy freshwater habitat and millennia of salmon to eat, and where can I see a bear? All the
a new generation as eggs in the glacier-ground stewardship from the people of Bristol Bay.” notoriety, all the fame that Alaska has achieved
gravel, and die, nourishing the land even in Because of that clean, cold habitat and those from images like the bears at Brooks Falls — it all
death. millions of salmon each year, in Katmai and in comes back down to these Bristol Bay sockeye.”
“If there’s one thing people can agree on, other places across Bristol Bay bears walk the Mary Catharine is the Communications
it’s that Bristol Bay is a special place,” said Tim same paths their ancestors did, stepping into Director SalmonState.

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