May 19, 2023 — For more than a decade Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, has helped advocate for the cause to protect Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska and the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery from a proposed open-pit gold and copper mining project near the bay’s headwaters.
She did so even though Gloucester, the nation’s oldest seaport, and Bristol Bay are some 3,600 miles apart on opposite coasts of the United States.
On Thursday at 4 p.m., Sanfilippo attended a celebration in the Rose Garden of the White House that marked the protection of Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine project.
According to his remarks, President Joe Biden told advocates his administration had used its authority under the Clean Water Act to ban the disposal of mine waste in the Bristol Bay watershed. Sanfilippo helped advocate for this cause, got others in the local and regional fishing industry onboard, and helped those in Alaska organize in their David vs. Goliath fight.
Biden pointed out the Bristol Bay salmon fishery supports 15,000 jobs in fishing, processing and tourism with an economic value of $2.2 billion.
Once back in Gloucester, Sanfilippo said in an interview Tuesday that Biden was so on point she wondered how she could get him to protect the Massachusetts fishery with its 70,000 jobs from the threat posed by looming offshore wind energy projects.