PRESS RELEASE: An urgent ecological appeal to save America's last place for wild salmon

UNITED STATES
Saturday, July 25, 2020, 02:00 (GMT + 9)

The last fully intact salmon run in the world is being threatened by a Canadian-based mining company.  If Pebble Mine comes to fruition, its waste could contaminate critical waters that feed the last fully intact wild salmon system on earth and could ruin this fully sustainable food source and economy, forever.

Seattle-based film director is trying to save what he loves in his second documentary about salmon, this one called THE WILD,  The award winning environmental documentary will have its national virtual premier on August 6^th at 8 p.m. EST.  This online gathering serves as an urgent call-to-action for individuals, organizations and communities to tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pause the permitting of a Canadian mining company seeking to excavate North America's largest open-pit gold and copper mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska—home to the last fully intact salmon run in the world.

The seesaw legal battle between Pebble Mine and opposition groups spans over two decades, and the apex of this battle is expected to emerge with a decision by Aug. 30 – about four weeks away. This issue is bigger than the film, please let me help you tell the story.  

Here’s why this issue has the attention of celebrities, fishermen, educators, chefs, tribes, theaters and lawmakers around the country:  

• This is America’s food security – Bristol Bay’s sustainable salmon fishery is an inexhaustible supply of wild food that makes itself.
• The U.S. EPA estimates the mine could grow to be nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon, cover an area larger than Manhattan and fill a major football stadium up to 3,900 times with mine waste.
• This proposed low-grade sulfur mine would be located upstream of Bristol Bay’s two most productive river systems.
• The location is in a seismically active region, where ground shifting could contribute to the risk of a massive tailings-dam breach.
• Indigenous people and others stand to lose a millennia-old culture and an organic food supply that could last forever if undisturbed.
• This threatens the $1.8 BILLION fishing industry, 14,000 American jobs and 46% of the world’s supply of sockeye salmon.

This pioneering livestream of THE WILD is not just a screening, but an experience, and will include live conversations with film director Mark Titus, luminaries from the film and fierce stakeholders in the fight for Bristol Bay; critical calls-to-action for participants; an opportunity to purchase wild Bristol Bay salmon shipped to registrants’ doors with recipes and rubs - and an action kit and virtual reality goggles to explore Bristol Bay from the comfort of participants’ own homes.

“As a fisherman who has witnessed numerous other salmon runs around the world wither away, I understand Bristol Bay is our last chance to get it right,” said Titus.  “Bristol Bay is the last fully intact wild salmon run on our planet.  We need to save it for the Indigenous people who have relied on wild salmon for 4,000+ years and for every American who benefits from the last wild places on earth. We have to save what we love, together.”

THE WILD features vibrant characters from Bristol Bay and luminaries like Congressional Gold Medal recipient Steve Gleason; Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard; climate-change artist Zaria Forman; celebrity chef Tom Colicchio; Yupik artist Apayu'q Moore; actor Mark Harmon; James Beard Award winning chef, Tom Douglas and actor/activist Adrian Grenier.

The virtual event will provide education on this issue and further elevate the voices across the U.S. and Canada who oppose Pebble Mine, which also include some of the largest financial, environmental and outdoor sporting groups in North America, such as Orvis, Tiffany & Co., The Natural Resource Defense Council and Trout Unlimited.

Recently, Morgan Stanley was the sixth major investor to announce its divestment from Pebble Mine’s parent company. Former Rio Tinto environment and permitting chief, Richard Borden estimated, based on his independent economic analysis, the proposed Pebble Mine project would lose $3 billion and is almost certainly financially infeasible.

“Dwindling investment partners are indicative of failing financial status and lack of social license,” said Titus, who was inspired to make THE WILD film to illuminate the current administration's behind-the-scenes dismantling of EPA safeguards enacted to protect the salmon, water and people of Bristol Bay. 

For screening information and how readers can take action go to: www.evaswild.com.  Tickets have a value of $12, but will be sold on a sliding scale so anyone may attend. 25% of ticket sales from the event goes to the coalition working to save Bristol Bay. 

This issue is bigger than the film, please let me help you tell the story.

[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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