SalmonState’s Melanie Brown joined the Marine Fish Conservation Network for an online Waterside Chat on January 23rd, 2024. Melanie fishes commercially in Bristol Bay in Alaska, the fourth generation of her family to make a living on the water. In her role as outreach director at SalmonState, Melanie builds spheres of influence to address marine policy challenges.
In a conversation that started with a poem and ended with a song, Melanie and host Tom Sadler talked about:
- The status of the Pebble Mine fight, which now moves to a federal district court, though Melanie hopes for an eventual legislative solution
- How she was born into a fishing family, with her great-great grandfather still fishing when she started at ten years old (she got her permit from him when he retired) and her children following her
- Her work with SalmonState, which grew out of Trout Unlimited’s original organizing against Pebble Mine and now covers other issues in the Bering Sea and waters around Alaska, particularly bycatch
- How the Pebble Fight brought together sport fishing interests, commercial fishing interests and Alaska’s First People around protecting Bristol Bay
- How mining development in Canada threatens U.S. waters, because “everything flows downstream”
- The status of Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization, plus the work to derail a late Trump administration rule that would open 28 million acres of land to mining and oil & gas exploration
- How wild salmon and other species including caribou play a big role in feeding people in Alaska, particularly the state’s First People
And much, much more!
Mentioned in this episode:
The Marine Fish Conservation Network’s Waterside Chat series connects people who depend on healthy oceans and fisheries with the issues that directly affect them and their communities. Each episode the Network’s Deputy Director Tom Sadler talks with different guests about ocean policy and fisheries management topics. He engages them in genuine and thoughtful conversations about what policy decisions mean for people’s livelihoods, communities, recreation, and coastal ways of life.
