Bristol Bay Sockeye: savoring – and saving – the world’s last great wild salmon fishery

Salmon fishermen are hanging up their nets after another phenomenal fishing season in Bristol Bay, Alaska where over 38 million wild sockeye salmon returned this summer.  (What exactly does 38 million salmon look like?  If you lined up all of Bristol Bay’s salmon from head to tail they would span from Alaska to Australia and back!)  Home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery, Bristol Bay is located in the southwest corner of Alaska, roughly 270 miles from Anchorage.  In addition to the bears and eagles that feed on Bristol Bay’s salmon each summer, Alaska Native villages have depended on Bristol Bay’s salmon for thousands of years; approximately 52% of their subsistence diet consists of wild salmon. 

With the majority of the world’s sockeye salmon coming from Bristol Bay, then chances are good that if you’ve ever eaten sockeye salmon that it came from Bristol Bay.  Sockeye salmon – one of the five wild Pacific salmon species harvested in North America – is highly prized by seafood lovers around the world for its brilliant deep red color, firm texture, and clean fresh flavor.  Easy to prepare and versatile in the kitchen, Bristol Bay Sockeye is sold as fresh, frozen, canned, or smoked and can be found year-round in restaurants and retail markets around the country (and world!).  

When you buy Bristol Bay Sockeye, you can feel good about not only getting your Omega-3s, vitamins and other important nutrients, but also supporting one of America’s oldest, most sustainable salmon fisheries and its 14,000 hard-working men and women.  You can also feel good knowing that Bristol Bay Sockeye is 100% wild and comes from one of the last pristine watersheds left in the world.  Bristol Bay’s pristine habitat means that its salmon are pristine, so you don’t have to worry about potentially harmful chemicals or other toxins in Bristol Bay Sockeye.

Unfortunately, Bristol Bay’s prolific wild salmon are under threat by a proposed massive open-pit gold and copper mine (known as the “Pebble Mine”) which foreign mining companies are pushing to develop in the headwaters of Bristol Bay’s most productive wild salmon rivers and lakes.  The good news is that Bristol Bay’s indigenous communities, fishermen, chefs and others around the country have banded together to save Bristol Bay’s wild sustainable salmon from the proposed Pebble Mine.  In fact, earlier this year, Chefs Mario Batali, Rick Moonen, Tom Douglas, Alice Waters and over 200 other chefs submitted a letter to President Obama asking him to save Bristol Bay’s salmon for future generations.  As Mario Batali noted, “Bristol Bay Sockeye is a sustainable, wild seafood that we cannot afford to lose.”

In response to these requests, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just recently announced on July 18^th its proposal to block the Pebble Mine and protect Bristol Bay’s salmon.  This is exciting news for seafood lovers across America since we now have a chance to weigh in and tell our nation’s leaders that Americans value and depend on sustainable wild salmon.  So grab your pens – and forks! – and ask the EPA to protect Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery for future generations. 

You can submit your comments to the EPA at www.bristolbaysockeye.org where you can also find delicious Bristol Bay Sockeye recipes, meet some of Bristol Bay’s fishermen, and learn more about what makes Bristol Bay Sockeye a national treasure from tide to table.

Jenn’s Bristol Bay Sockeye Salad

This easy and healthy Bristol Bay Sockeye recipe is from Jenn Kurian who fishes in Bristol Bay, Alaska each summer with her husband, Steve.  They live in Pennsylvania during the off-season where they sell their salmon directly to customers through Wild for Salmon.  This recipe is a staple for them during the busy fishing season when they need a hearty, nutritious lunch that’s delicious and simple.  Learn more about Jenn and Steve’s fishing story.

2lb Bristol Bay sockeye salmon
 (fresh or frozen)
Olive oil, salt, and black pepper

1 medium onion, chopped fine

1 cup of mayonnaise

1 tart apple, medium size, chopped into small pieces

1/2 cup raisins, or dried cranberries
1/2 cup of chopped nuts (walnuts and pecans work great!)


Season the salmon to taste with olive oil, pepper and salt.

Broil the salmon – skin side down – for 8 minutes (or until cooked to desired doneness).  Remove salmon from the oven and let cool.  While salmon is cooling mix the other ingredients (onion through nuts) together in a bowl.

Once the salmon is cooled, flake the salmon into a large mixing bowl and add in the other ingredients.  Stir well until ingredients are combined.

Serve salmon salad on a bed of greens or serve as a sandwich either in a wrap or on your favorite bread.  It’s great on crackers too!

**Bristol Bay Sockeye is a program of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA), which represents the 1,850 commercial salmon drift fishermen of Bristol Bay, Alaska and their crew.  Find them at www.bbrsda.com.

Photos by Chris Miller