April 19, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — At the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hearing in Anchorage yesterday, there wasn’t enough time to hear everyone who had to speak. Dozens of people remained to testify as the hearing closed. Two-thirds of the public comments given were opposed to the Pebble mine plan and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

A press conference prior to the hearing brought Bristol Bay tribes, lodge owners, salmon ecologists, fishermen and other scientists together to call for a better process.

“Bristol Bay residents are outraged that we have been dealing with Pebble for more than a decade. We are sick and tired of the greed and the lies,” said Gayla Hoseth, second chief of the Curyung Tribal Council and director of natural resources for the Bristol Bay Native Association.

“Yet we are here again to comment on an inadequate draft EIS based on Pebble’s incomplete application to build a mine in our pristine environment, because we want to protect this last wild salmon run on earth as it exists today, for this generation and for future generations,” she said.

Dr. Daniel Schindler, professor of Aquatic and Fishery Science at the University of Washington, agreed with Hoseth.

“The reality is, if you put garbage into [an EIS] process, you get garbage out of a process. And what we’re looking at here with the Draft EIS is one that distinctly underestimates risks to fish, to water, and to people. It is junk. The draft EIS should be thrown out. It makes some critical assumptions that basically make it an illegitimate assessment of risks to fish and water and people in Bristol Bay.”

Melanie Brown, a fourth generation Naknek River setnetter, was angry with the way members of the fishing industry have been treated by Pebble and the Corps of Engineers.

”They come in there with nothing to lose, selling a fantasy that we can dig a giant acid-generating pit upstream of some of the most prolific salmon habitat in the world and somehow the fish will be better for it,” Brown said.

“Rushing forward and disregarding the real and thoughtful concerns of those of us with everything to lose is not how the public process should be handled. Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay are proud to join thousands of Alaskans who have come out time and time again to save Bristol Bay from this ridiculous proposal.”

Earlier this month, Pebble Partnership admitted to financing a lawsuit brought by six fishermen against the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, an association of which each plaintiff is a member.

BBRSDA’s most recent response to the suit called it a “desperate attempt to muzzle a fishermen’s organization during the Pebble mine’s public comment period, which ends on May 30. Most importantly, the projects in question fall within our statutory purposes and advance our mission of maximizing the value of the Bristol Bay fishery.”

The post on the BBRSDA’s website noted that Mike Heatwole, a spokesman for Pebble, said the mining developer agreed to fund the lawsuit because the fishermen have limited funds.

“Ironically, the complaint alleges that BBRSDA’s actions related to the Pebble Mine negatively impacts the plaintiffs, when in fact we strongly believe it benefits their fishing businesses,” the post reads.

“We’d like people to understand that the BBRSDA is more than just seafood advertising. We were created as a Development association, not just a Marketing association or an Advertising non-profit.

“Our primary purpose is the promotion of regional seafood products and like our namesake, the word ‘promote’ has a broad definition: ‘to contribute to the growth or prosperity of.’ We undertake a variety of activities that fit within our statutory purposes and collectively function to raise the value of the fishery.

“Scrutinizing plans for an enormous open-pit mine at the headwaters of this fishery, which could seriously damage the marketability and abundance of this fishery, clearly seeks to protect this fishery’s prosperity. We are also very concerned the mine will cause reputational damage to the fishery, undermining our substantial ongoing investment in branding and marketing Bristol Bay sockeye,” the group said.

This year’s harvest for sockeye salmon at Bristol Bay is projected to be 28 million fish. Noting the current value of Bristol Bay salmon, the association acknowledged what is behind it.

“Investments made by fishermen, processors, and the BBRSDA in marketing, quality, and sustainability are paying off and meeting the mission of maximizing fishery value. The value of Bristol Bay sockeye averaged $156 million from 2012-2016, but exceeded $270 million in each of the past two years,” the group wrote on the BBRSDA website.

“This is the most valuable wild salmon fishery in the world. It has a terrific opportunity to occupy a large, premium niche in the global salmon market, and we are working to realize that future. The Pebble Mine seriously threatens this fishery’s bright future,” they concluded.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.