Nushagak Bay
Encyclopedia
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. It opens to Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay is the eastern-most arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km long and 290 km, wide at its mouth...
, a large body of water in the eastern Bering Sea
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
north of the Alaska Peninsula
Alaska Peninsula
The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....
.
It is home to the area's largest city, Dillingham
Dillingham, Alaska
- Natural resources :Dillingham was once known as the Pacific salmon capital of the world and commercial fishing remains an important part of the local economy...
, and the bay hosts one of the world's last great sustainable sockeye salmon
Sockeye salmon
Sockeye salmon , also called red salmon or blueback salmon in the USA, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it...
fisheries.
Bristol Bay residents have historically valued the estuary resources for both subsistence gains and commercial profits. However, given the estuary’s importance, there have been few comprehensive scientific studies conducted in the bay. Species diversity as measured through richness and total biomass is generally low with 16 macro invertebrate species encountered in a 2007 field study, including teleost fishes, isopods, amphipods, and crangon shrimps. During the summer 2007, Nushagak Bay was found to have a Shannon Diversity (H’) value of 1.54, ranking it below similar subarctic estuaries such as Ungava Bay, near Labrador (60°34’N, 67°35’W) and Lower Herring Bay in Price William Sound (60°30’N, 147°13’W) where the Shannon Diversity values are H’=2.11 and H’=2.5, respectively. This lower diversity of Nushagak Bay is most likely due to its low salinity, high turbidity, and silty sediments.
Nushagak Bay is downstream of the proposed Pebble Mine
Pebble Mine
Pebble Mine is the common name of an advanced mineral exploration project investigating a very large porphyry copper, gold, and molybdenum mineral deposit in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. The proposal to mine the ore deposit, using large-scale...
, whose tailings storage lake would sit at the headwaters of the Koktuli River, one of the Nushagak River
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River is a river in southwest Alaska, USA. It begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest to Nushagak Bay, an inlet of Bristol Bay, east of Dillingham, Alaska.The Mulchatna River is a major tributary...
's tributaries. Villages on the Nushagak are among the major opponents of the proposal.
The bay runs primarily north-south from the mouth of the Nushagak River
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River is a river in southwest Alaska, USA. It begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest to Nushagak Bay, an inlet of Bristol Bay, east of Dillingham, Alaska.The Mulchatna River is a major tributary...
to Bristol Bay some 30 miles (48 km) southward. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers, including the Wood, Igushik
Igushik River
The Igushik River is a river in Alaska, USA, which flows southward from Amanka Lake into the Nushagak Bay arm of Bristol Bay. The entire river is located within Togiak National Wildlife Refuge and is known for its fishing. It flows through the village of Manokotak ....
, and Snake Rivers.