Bristol Bay, Alaska

Bristol Bay, Alaska

Bristol Bay is home to the largest run of wild sockeye salmon on the planet.  Bristol Bay is also one of the most sustainable and valuable commercial fisheries in the world, consisting of 6 managed river districts that include the Naknek, Kvichak, Egegik, Ugashik, Nushagak and Togiak rivers.  

Roughly half or the world's sockeye salmon comes from Bristol Bay.  This equates to an annual harvest of at least 60% of the world’s wild sockeye salmon with an average annual return of 50 million individual wild sockeye, every June through the end of July.

The Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Fishery supports 8,000+ small boat fishermen, 1,800 small fishing businesses and generations of fishing families. Annually, the Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Fishery generates $2.2 billion each year and there are 15,000 fishing jobs that produce $90 million in state tax revenue and licensing fees. 

Bristol Bay consists of 20 million acres of wetland, snow-fed lakes and streams that provide an essential environment for millions of spawning salmon.  It’s breath-taking beauty and prolific landscapes also support the world’s highest concentration of brown bears which depend upon the abundant salmon runs to survive.

Bristol Bay, Alaska truly is a magical place.