Salmon Beyond Borders

“The whole family was on board F/V AnneLee when we fished in the early years, in the 1980s. It was fun to hear Heather and Scott’s excitement about catching salmon. They'd be our counters, and would always yell out when fish hit the net. Sometimes they'd get ambitious, and they’d help take the fish out of the net, toss the fish in the hold, and those kinds of things. Sometimes when fishing was slow, which was often, it was fun to watch the kids play in the rigging on the back deck, dance to ABBA and Neil Diamond songs, and enjoy the atmosphere with us. I remember one time we were out right around the Labor Day weekend. It was near midnight. And as we were coming by the Taku Inlet fishing grounds, suddenly the northern lights came out. The kids were asleep down below. We woke them up, and then we just laid on the deck and watched the amazing light show in the sky.” —Len Peterson, retired Taku gillnetter Defend the Taku: /salmonbeyondborders.org/take-action #TakuRiver #transboundary #alaska #wildsalmon #fishing

“I crewed for a while on commercial trollers and gillnetters. And then Sheila and I bought our own boat in 1981 – a plywood boat we named “F/V AnneLee..’ We began to fish in Taku Inlet, at the mouth of the Taku River. I was a high school teacher at the time. Even though the first years were pretty rough, we eventually caught enough that I about doubled my teacher’s salary by gillnetting in the summer months. Eventually, Sheila and I put our two kids, Heather and Scott, through college, or helped get them through college, through mostly those fishing endeavors. I was a member of USAG (United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters) and UFA (United Fishermen of Alaska), and the family and I gillnetted in Taku Inlet for 37 years. Our family and Renee and Winston Warr also owned and operated our own direct marketing business, Taku River Reds, for my last fifteen years of commercial fishing – selling to others, becoming a processor and a catcher. We “pressure bled,” or cleaned and removed all the blood, from every salmon we caught before selling to consumers to seal in its freshness. I especially enjoyed producing the highest quality product. It was very trying and very hard work. We had some clients that declared bankruptcy and it became a real financial burden, a real labor of love. Luckily, though, we a lot of family and friends were involved and helped us out, and also made it all a lot more fun. While commercial fishing and operating Taku River Reds were the most difficult jobs I’ve ever had, they were also the most rewarding and memorable.” —Len Peterson, retired Taku gillnetter Defend the Taku: /salmonbeyondborders.org/take-action #TakuRiver #transboundary #alaska #wildsalmon #fishing

“My name is Len Peterson. I've been in Alaska since 1970. I moved here from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where I grew up catching muddy-tasting fish. Bluegill and sunfish and the occasional bass were usual catches. We put our catch in a plastic bag and threw it in the freezer for our winter meals. So when my wife Sheila and I drove our Volkswagen van to Alaska, I initially said ‘no’ to wild salmon. The memories of freeze-dried non-salmon were just too awful. After we arrived in Alaska, new friends gave us gifts of wild salmon. Sometimes we were given crab, as well. And we usually gave it away, I’m embarrassed to say. That said, we had some friendships we developed very quickly, being able to re-gift a lot of salmon and crab to them! But finally, we couldn't do that. I had a fellow teacher friend who invited us to a dinner picnic. And we suddenly couldn't give the salmon to another friend or a plant or anything. We had to eat it. And oh, my goodness we loved it! We thought, ‘Wow, this is the real McCoy!’ We were sold. Eventually, I became a commercial fisherman, in part to be able to eat a lot more wild salmon.” —Len Peterson, retired Taku gillnetter Defend the Taku: /salmonbeyondborders.org/take-action #TakuRiver #transboundary #alaska #wildsalmon #fishing

Ex-consultants for the proposed KSM gold mine are now helping write its permit. An investigation by Stephan Labbé found edits to KSM's permit that lower financial safeguards and cut wastewater protections — and those edits were made by the same people who once promoted the project. That’s not oversight. That’s insider influence. And it puts the transboundary Unuk River — and Alaska communities downstream — at risk. Take action: /take-action

British Columbia’s New Polaris gold mine project plans to start large-vessel trips from Juneau up the Taku River this summer. The landing craft they plan to use, the Inlet Raider, is 98 feet long — 16 feet longer than they said just weeks ago would be their maximum on the tricky-to-navigate river, where previous mining vessels have grounded and nearly capsized. Read Salmon Beyond Borders' full press release about this here: /press-releases/a-spectacularly-bad-idea-new-polaris-plans-impracticable-large-vessel-trips-up-the-taku-river-this-summer Defend transboundary rivers: /take-action

Defend transboundary rivers: /take-action

“Butch” Laiti, long-time Douglas Indian Association President, and lifelong fisherman in Taku Inlet at the mouth of the T’aaku Héeni. President Laiti’s commitment to his family, his community, and to the Taku River was admirable and we are grateful to have learned from and to have been inspired by him. What a legacy President Laiti leaves. On a personal note, Salmon Beyond Borders Advisor Heather Hardcastle remembers spending some long summer days fishing as a kid on her family’s boat alongside President Laiti on his boat in Taku Inlet. It was a real joy for Heather to reconnect with President Laiti over the last few years, and swap old stories of fishing in this magical place. Rest in power, President Laiti. *Full Oct. 8, 2025 KTOO article: /2025/10/08/juneau-residents-voice-opposition-to-proposed-new-polaris-gold-mine-in-british-columbia/

We are sharing a second story in memory of Lincoln Bean, an Organized Village of Kake Elder who walked into the forest in March. He shared these stories with us several years ago. Thank you, Lincoln, for sharing your wisdom. “There’s a place we call Scotty’s garden, just south of Kake. They came across poles in the sides of the river. Fish traps. They did a carbon test on the poles in that stream, and those poles came out to be 3,000 years old. And so obviously that tells you how we survived on the land, and how important fishing is to our people. The mines affect our way of life, not only as Native people — but the fishermen, the tourism, the beautiful timber in the streams that attracts people. That’s all going to be destroyed. Nothing will be the same, if we have a Mount Polley disaster in a transboundary stream. It’s something that needs undivided attention from our Congressional delegation, from [elected officials], from Canada. If we don’t work together, and our Indigenous people too, we’re falling fast. It’s not if, it’s when. And when that happens, who is responsible for it? Can it be prevented? We need to keep the water quality not just for Southeast Alaska, but for the whole Pacific Ocean.”

💥 NEWS: According to the State of Alaska, everything's fine. Nothing to see here. According to many downstream Alaskans, as well as Senators Murkowski and Sullivan, Canada's toxic gold mining boom upstream of Alaska, and their lower-than-Alaskan standards, are cause for concern. So is the fact that existing Canadian mines are contaminating Alaskan rivers. 🐟 Take Action to Defend Transboundary Rivers: /take-action 📰 Full article in National Fisherman: /better-protections-sought-for-salmon-habitat-in-transboundary-waters

📰 Multiple British Columbia mines are polluting wild salmon rivers as you read this. Let's all pay attention to the real threat: the threats to B.C. salmon. Key among them, as scientist Jonathan Moore makes clear, is habitat destruction and contamination from poorly regulated mining. Read the whole piece: /opinion/op-ed/opinion-who-gets-to-catch-the-last-salmon Take action: Link in bio

We are sending our condolences and well-wishes to family, friends and community of Lincoln Bean, a Kake Tribal Elder who walked into the forest in March. In his memory, we're re-sharing one of several stories he shared with us several years ago. Thank you, Lincoln, for sharing your wisdom with us all. “I’ve been on the Organized Village of Kake council, and in health care, for quite a while now. With the transboundary, there’s a close tie-in to health, and the impact mining could have. If we ever have a catastrophic event with a tailings dam on a transboundary river, it could affect all of our livelihood, and our traditional foods. Seaweed, crab, you name it. It's not just Southeast — it’s going to affect the entire state. Even the Lower 48. We are going to have to look at cleanup, and the long-term effects. We know dams have failed several times across the world. If only one transboundary dam broke, all of Southeast’s waters would be contaminated. I have nothing against mining, but they need to be more responsible." - Kake Tribal Elder Lincoln Bean Photo credit SEARHC

Gov. Dunleavy chooses to defend Canadian mines actively polluting transboundary wild salmon rivers — instead of Alaska clean water and healthy fisheries. Defend transboundary rivers: /take-action