Producer

Bristol Bay hosts the world’s largest commercial sockeye salmon fishery. Beginning in late May every year, salmon make the run upriver to spawn in one the five rivers that feed into Bristol Bay, where we fishermen spend our time each summer. On average, 35.1 million sockeye salmon return to the rivers annually.

Because of the bay’s remote environment away from industrial development, and its healthy, largely untouched watershed, Bristol Bay is a vital refuge for both oceanic and freshwater fish species – including our beloved sockeye salmon.

Every day, biologists count the salmon running into each river system as the salmon swim into protected spawning areas. Each commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay is constantly in contact with the biologists who are informing the fisherman whether or not they may put their nets in the water. Alaska’s diligent tracking and management of the salmon population is protecting future generations of salmon to repeat the process as well as sustaining the world’s salmon consumption.

Bristol Bay is a unique source of salmon because the run remains completely unmanipulated by humans, save for close management and commercial fishing. This stands out because other regions of Alaska support their fish habitat with hatcheries; it is important to note that salmon from the southeast are not farmed. However, in order to support the fishery, many of the rivers in other parts of Alaska release hatchery-born salmon into the rivers to support the fish population. Bristol Bay’s population has remained strong enough to avoid this type of support through tight management and responsible fishing; we are proud to continue that tradition and stand-down when the law says it’s time to protect the salmon rather than catch them to bring them home to you.