"Bristol Bay salmon"

It’s a win for the state’s marketing branch, which had some help from Alaska’s congressional delegation.

United Tribes of Bristol Bay Executive Director Alannah Hurley was invited to Washington, D.C., to introduce the president.

Pebble spokesperson Mike Heatwole said the announcement shows the company’s appeal holds water.

“Many of those who began this battle are no longer with us,” said Alannah Hurley, executive director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay. She called the EPA’s decision historic.

Casey Sixkiller, the Region 10 administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, has sent a recommendation to EPA headquarters to protect the area by vetoing the proposed mine.

In early July, it sent out its first shipment of the season — 1,000 pounds of salmon to Chignik communities on the Alaska Peninsula. The program plans to send a total of 8,000 pounds of salmon there this month.

One scientist says the sockeye runs now returning to Bristol Bay may be the largest in hundreds of years.

The EPA announced the proposed ban Wednesday morning, using its authority under a section of the Clean Water Act.

Alaska fishermen could see a record sockeye salmon harvest of 74 million fish this year, most of which will come from Bristol Bay.

Biologists are forecasting another massive run of sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay this summer, raising questions in commercial fishing circles about whether the industry will be able to keep up.