Page 55 - Breath of the Bear

BRISTOL BAY Rich with Salmon

by Mary Catharine Martin (mc@salmonstate.org)

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

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