On the heels of last week's release of the EPA's updated risk assessment regarding the potential impacts of mining operations in the Bristol Bay watershed, the University of Alaska Anchorage's Institute of Social and Economic Research has released the findings of a study which estimate the annual value of Bristol bay's salmon fishery to be 1.5 billion dollars. The study was performed at the request of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, as part of an effort to increase the amount of data available to individuals and organizations undertaking the task of evaluating the feasibility of large scale mining, such as Pebble Mine, at the headwaters of the prolific Nushagak and Kvichak rivers.

The valuation figures produced by the study take into account commercial harvesting, processing, and retailing Bristol Bay salmon and the multiplier effects of these activities. The study does not include the economic value of the sport-fishing industry in Bristol Bay, which previous studies have estimated to be around $60 million annually.

The report by UAA also noted the importance of the economic impact of Bristol Bay's wild salmon fishery to other geographic regions of the United States, particularly the Pacific Northwest, where the report states most of the commercial fishing companies that operate in Bristol Bay are based. It details that "The Bristol Bay salmon industry is a major part of the broader Alaska and Pacific Northwest seafood industry, and pays for an important share of the fixed costs of many fishing and processing operations. Without the Bristol Bay salmon industry, fixed costs would be higher and profits lower in the rest of the seafood industry. The Bristol Bay salmon industry is a major supporter of infrastructure and utilities in the Bristol Bay region, a major taxpayer, and a very important source of local jobs and income."

There likely isn't an angler east of the Mississippi River that doesn't long for the days when wild Atlantic Salmon teemed in eastern waters ranging as far south as Long Island Sound and northward to Newfoundland and Quebec. Before the dams and pollution of the industrial revolution wiped out these formally abundant stocks of Atlantic Salmon, beginning in rivers such as the Connecticut, Merrimack, and Androscoggin, a tale of an angler in the northeastern US wetting a line and hooking up one of these prized fish wouldn't have been considered noteworthy. These days, however, it is quite the contrary. Given such, you can imagine the surprise of New York City resident Pierre Champion when he did just that just over one week ago.

Champion, a dedicated fly fisherman, paddleboarder and kayaker who religiously plies the urban waters of New York City in search of striped bass and other expected species, was searching some submerged structure off City Island in the Bronx, when he encountered a most unexpected quarry. On Champion's second exploratory cast, he hooked up a fish that he immediately noted did not fight like a striped bass or bluefish, species that he would have expected to encounter this time of year in the western reaches of Long Island Sound. Suspecting a weakfish, Champion reeled the fish in after a relatively short fight to discover a trout like fish that was hooked through the gills and bleeding badly.