Read the FAQ as a pdf document.
Who put out this ad?
Bristol Bay Alliance is a group of fishermen, business owners and local citizens working to help ensure that the people who live, work, and play in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska have a voice in decisions regarding the area's clean water, healthy spawning grounds, and pristine habitat.
Nunamta Aulukestai (Caretakers of our Lands) is an association of eight Bristol Bay Native Corporations representing hundreds of Alaska Natives who live in Dillingham, Aleknagik, Koliganek, New Stuyahok, Ekwok and Clarks Point.
Renewable Resources Coalition is an Alaskan non-profit membership organization working to protect Alaska's fish and game resources and the habitat upon which they depend; and to promote awareness of issues that affect the well-being of the businesses and individuals that use these renewable resources.
EARTHWORKS is a conservation organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the destructive impacts of mineral development, in the U.S. and worldwide.
Why do you want jewelers to act?
In recent years, growing controversy over some mining projects has heightened public awareness about gold's social and environmental costs. Consumers shopping for jewelry are asking questions about the gold and other metals in products they buy: where did it come from, and under what conditions was it produced?
The spectacular and abundant Bristol Bay Watershed -- with its world-famous salmon runs, moose, grizzlies, and caribou -- is at risk from a massive open-pit gold and copper
mining district proposal.
A strong and diverse constituency opposes the mining district, including many Native villages, commercial fishing businesses, tourism and recreation organizations, and hunting and fishing lodges. Bristol Bay is no place for a large gold and copper mine, let alone a major mining district.
By signing the Bristol Bay Protection Pledge, retail jewelers are committing to sourcing policies and practices that ensure their customers, and the public, that the gold jewelry they purchase will not come at the expense of the world's greatest salmon fishery and the communities that depend on it.
It is the responsible thing to do. But it also makes good business sense. Recent market research affirms that consumers place ethical considerations into their purchasing decisions. Eighty-six percent of consumers have said they would switch brands to support the more socially responsible choice.
What is the Bristol Bay Protection Pledge?
The Bristol Bay Protection Pledge is a recognition of the Bristol Bay Watershed as a vital
fish and wildlife resource that supports commercial, subsistence and recreational ways of
life.
By taking the Bristol Bay Protection Pledge, retailers are pledging to enact sourcing policies and practices that protect the Bristol Bay watershed from the proposed Pebble Mine or any other major mines proposed on public lands in the Bristol Bay Watershed.
Why does the ad thank Jewelers of America?
In November 2005, Jewelers of America (JA), the nation's largest retail jewelry trade association, sent a letter to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert urging him to strip controversial mining provisions from the House budget reconciliation bill. JA expressed grave concern that the mining provisions authored by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-California) "would result in a massive giveaway of public land giveaway to corporations and private interests."
A copy of the JA letter is available here (pdf, right/command click to save).
A diverse bipartisan coalition of conservationists, indigenous rights groups, county commissioners and officials from western states, property and small business owners, hunters, anglers and other recreational users of public lands opposed the mining provisions, which were eventually withdrawn from the bill. The ad thanks JA for doing its part to protect hundreds of millions of acres of public lands.
What does the photo in the ad depict?
The photo in the ad (which also underlies all the web pages relating to the pledge), entitled River/Sky Iliamna, was taken by renowned photographer
Robert Glenn Ketchum. It depicts Iliamna River, a tributary to Alaska's largest lake -
Iliamna Lake - in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. Iliamna River teems with sockeye
salmon and other important commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries.
How did you come up with the "43 million salmon" figure?
According to the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game - Division of Commercial Fisheries, the inshore Bristol
Bay sockeye salmon run was slightly more than 43.1 million fish in 2006. The sockeye salmon runs of Bristol Bay represent roughly one-third of the world's sockeye salmon, the world's chief commercial salmon species.
