The state government should do everything it can to defend our fisheries

The upper Unuk River watershed is a site of a proposed mine in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. (Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission photo)

By Linda Behnken

On Dec. 5, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation director Randy Bates wrote an opinion piece arguing against Salmon Beyond Borders and the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association's (ALFA's) assertion that, 10 years after the Walker administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding with British Columbia, the Dunleavy administration is "leaving Alaskans in the dark." Reading Mr. Bates' opinion piece you would not realize that commercial fishermen have also expressed strong concerns about the state's lack of action to protect the Taku, Stikine, Unuk, and Salmon Rivers from the B.C. polluting mining boom upstream. 

In the piece, Mr. Bates speaks about his own experience as a fisherman, and his desire to see healthy fisheries. I am glad that Mr. Bates wants healthy fisheries. Every Alaskan should. Definitely every fisherman does, and we understand that healthy fisheries need healthy fish habitat. That is why we are concerned by the risk the state is taking with these incredible salmon rivers. 

Many examples of the State's transboundary inaction have already been highlighted by Breanna Walker, Salmon Beyond Borders director, in her Dec. 10 response to Mr. Bates. I would like to emphasize a few others:

Alaskans now find out about British Columbia transboundary mine pollution through the media — not from the State of Alaska. There have been multiple contamination events from B.C.mines in transboundary river systems in the last year — and that is with only three B.C. mines operating in this vast, salmon-producing region. There are more than 100 B.C. mine projects in some stage of development, abandonment, operation, or exploration just upstream of Alaska.

The proposed Eskay Creek gold mine and mine waste dams are in the final stages of the B.C. environmental review process in the headwaters of the Unuk River. Alaska tribes have submitted comments. Salmon Beyond Borders has submitted comments. Other organizations have submitted comments. Who hasn't? The State of Alaska. In fact, to our knowledge, no state agency under Dunleavy has submitted any public comments on any proposed B.C. mine along Alaska-B.C. shared rivers. Neither have they submitted public comments in reaction to B.C. transboundary mine pollution events.

British Columbia's transboundary mining is a major concern for Southeast Alaska fishermen. It's also a concern for Southeast Alaska municipalities, tribes and legislators. All of us have expressed specific, strong concerns and made some clear requests. None of that is reflected in the Dunleavy administration's materials, approach, or assurances.

The Tulsequah Chief, an abandoned B.C. mine, has been leaking acid mine drainage into international waters since before Alaska became a state. The Dunleavy Administration dropped the Walker administration's request that it be cleaned up immediately. Now, we hear from the project manager that after eight years of the Dunleavy administration, it may be cleaned up in 10 years "if all goes well." The Tulsequah Chief was a very small mine relative to the size of those B.C. currently proposes for our region. If it is cleaned up by 2035, it will have taken almost 80 years for British Columbia to get a small mine to stop contaminating shared waters. That does not inspire confidence for how B.C. will monitor and close its much larger transboundary mines.

B.C. doesn't require mines to pay a full reclamation bond — the money needed to fully clean up pollution or close a mine — before operations begin, like Alaska does. In fact, the province is hundreds of millions of dollars short of the funds needed to clean up all of B.C.'s closed and operating mines. The Dunleavy administration has dropped the Walker administration's request that this be rectified.

Our transboundary rivers are treasures. They are home to all five species of wild salmon. Historically, they have supplied 80% of the king salmon returning to this region. The Taku is host to one of the largest coho salmon runs in the world. 

Not only do Alaskans eat wild salmon, salmon are the state's economic driver. In Southeast Alaska alone, fisheries create more than $800 million in economic output each year. Fisheries are 15% of regional employment, with 4,400 resident commercial fishermen in Southeast, and 2,900 seafood processing jobs. 

Again, I am sure Mr. Bates cares about clean water and wild salmon. How can you be an Alaskan and not care? Unfortunately, the administration that he is working for does not seem to understand all that is at risk from Canada's transboundary mines.

Throughout Alaska's history, Republican, Independent, and Democratic administrations have worked hard to ensure the health of Alaska's salmon and transboundary rivers. The Dunleavy administration is the exception. Our fish, and the threats that B.C. transboundary mining poses to our wild salmon rivers, matter to all Alaskans. The Taku, Stikine, Unuk and Salmon Rivers are sacred and Alaska's salmon are too precious to risk. 

• Linda Behnken is a commercial fisherman and the executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association, an alliance of small boat commercial fishermen committed to sustainable fisheries and thriving coastal communities.