Alaska's wild salmon industry has received support from Jewellery retailers from the United Kingdom and the U.S.
The planned Anglo American mine located in Alaska could potentially threaten the environment of the pink salmon with its open pit activity at Bristol Bay.
This mine will be extracting copper, gold and molybdenum deposit from the Bristol Bay Watershed located on the Alaska Peninsula 200 miles southwest of Anchorage Alaska and just north of Lake Iliamna or west of Lake Clark.
50 jewellers including Tiffany & Co, Fraser Hart, Zale, Mappin & Webb, and Watches of Switzerland have pledges not to sell gold from the proposed Pebble Mine in western Alaska. The mine is to be a joint venture between Anglo American and Canadian company Northern Dynasty Minerals.
Locals are worried that the open pit mine with an infrastructure set up over 30 square miles and an 86 mile long access road will spell disaster for the wild sockeye salmon run. The wild salmon spawning grounds are in drastic decline all over the world.
The salmon run in Alaska is a healthy and sustainable industry which is worth $320 million annually, generating around 12,500 jobs. The mine's toxins, environmental changes and tailing waste could potentially damage the wild salmon run and affect the fishing industry.