World Wildlife Fund

What We Do

The Wild Things

Ride the tuna highway of the high seas and swim with rare river dolphins in a new edition of WWF's biweekly podcast series. Learn more.

Take Action

Take Action on Climate Change

Tell your member of Congress to vote YES on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Take Action

Travel

Travel With WWF

Visit our travel section and choose from many amazing trips! Learn more

Adopt a Polar Bear

Adopt Polar Bear

Make a symbolic Polar Bear adoption to help save some of the world's most endangered animals from extinction and support WWF’s conservation efforts.
Adopt Now!

Support WWF

Show your love of the panda with the WWF Visa Signature^® credit card from Bank of America. Bank of America will contribute $100 to WWF for each new qualifying account.*

* See application for details.

The Arctic

Unprotected: Bristol Bay, Alaska - World's Fish Basket

WWF and other members of the Alaskan conservation community handed over hundreds of thousands of comments from concerned citizens to Secretary Salazar on the final day of the 180-day public comment period on a proposed, new five-year oil and gas leasing program, that was part of an effort by the Bush administration to hand over the Arctic Ocean to the oil and gas industry.

The event included polar bear and salmon costumes, colorful signs, and a tasty wild salmon lunch for the public!

See a slideshow!

Worth the Risk?

WWF marks the 20th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill by calling for a timeout on any new offshore oil development in the Arctic until adequate solutions are in place.
Learn More

Bristol Bay is one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the world, home to the largest wild sockeye salmon runs in the world; important nursery grounds for red king crab and Pacific halibut; staging areas and wintering grounds for tens of millions of seabirds; and a feeding ground and migration corridor for marine mammals, including five endangered species. Fishing has provided the cornerstone of the area's economy for thousands of years.

In Bristol Bay, it is estimated that drilling would produce 230 million barrels of oil and 6.79 trillion cubic feet of gas. Oil would be produced for 18 years and gas for 22 years before supplies ran out. By international standards this is relatively small offshore oil and gas potential in Bristol Bay. Geologists consider the prospect and ease of finding oil and gas offshore in Bristol Bay as low.

Unlike oil and gas, fish provide a renewable resource. The economic benefits of renewable fisheries resources far outweigh the estimated potential economic value

Bristol Bay: Sustainable fisheries, sustainable future

of nonrenewable offshore oil and gas resources. According to the federal Minerals Management Service (MMS), at most, oil and gas drilling is expected to bring in $7.7 billion over the 25-40 years experts believe it will take to extract these finite resources from Bristol Bay and the North Aleutian Basin. In contrast, the area’s fishing industry brings in $2.2 billion per year, or a total of $50-80 billion over the same time period. If properly managed, Bristol Bay fisheries won’t disappear after 40 years, and they won’t leave behind a trail of contamination and destruction.

Learn more about Bristol Bay

Epicenter of the Bering Sea fishery
The proposed oil and gas lease area identified by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) within the North Aleutian Basin (Bristol Bay) overlaps key commercial fishing grounds and habitat for pollock, cod, and king and tanner crab. Bristol Bay contributes heavily to the productivity of the Bering Sea fisheries, which accounts for over $2 billion dollars in revenue annually.

View larger

World's largest run of wild sockeye salmon
The value of the commercial sockeye salmon fishery was $106 million dollars in 2006 - with over 39 million salmon migrating through the area proposed for leasing on their way to spawn in the headwaters of Bristol Bay. The area proposed for development overlaps with out-migration routes for smolts and the migration routes for adults returning to rivers throughout western Alaska and the Arctic.

Even a small oil spill or any environmental mishap in the region could damage branding and marketing efforts currently underway for Bristol Bay wild salmon.

Irreplaceable wildlife habitat
Bristol Bay is vital habitat for several marine mammal species including North Pacific right whales, Steller sea loins, Pacific walrus and sea otters and is the site of one of the world's greatest concentrations of seabirds. Several of these species are listed as endangered, such as the North Pacific right whale, whose only known summertime feeding grounds overlap the area proposed for leasing.

A dozen state and federal protected areas surrounding southeast Bristol Bay could be threatened by oil spills or other development related mishaps.

National Wildlife Refuges: Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, Togiak National Wildlife Refuge
State Refuges: Izembek State Refuge, State Refuge
State Critical Habitat Areas: Cape Newenham, Egegik, Pilot Point, Port Heiden, Port Moller
State Sanctuaries: Walrus Island

North Aleutian Basin (Bristol Bay)

An important source of food and cultural identity
The harvest of food such as fish, wildlife and plants from the region is essential to the maintenance of cultural traditions and as a primary source of sustenance for many Native Alaskans residing in Bristol Bay. Over the region annual harvests of food found in the wild total about 265,000 pounds per year or about 211 pounds per person. The subsistence harvest contributes approximately 20% of the populations calories. Fish represents more than half the wild food consumed.

Encourage your friends to take action with an Alaska or Oil Spill e-card