The Defenders of Wildlife has said that the decision of the Department of the Interior to drill poses hazards for the fishery in Bristol Bay region. According to them the offshore drilling also puts at risk important marine mammal and migratory bird habitat. Richard Charter, a consultant for Defenders of Wildlife, told that the Bush administration is encouraging the oil industry in Bristol Bay which is destined to ultimately destroy one of America’s only remaining sustainable marine ecosystems.
It is fact that Bristol Bay is home to a sustainable commercial fishing industry that generates at leas $95 million each year in revenues for the region and now the oil company drilling offshore in the 5.6 million acre. In 2003 Alaska’s Senator Ted Stevens led a successful effort to lift this annual congressional protection of leasing offshore drilling but in January 2007 President Bush removed a similar executive offshore leasing deferral for Bristol Bay. This lead to the approval of new drilling preparations by the Interior Department.
It has been said that the final decision on the transfer of offshore drilling rights in Bristol Bay to the oil industry is scheduled for 2011. Efforts are on to save the Bristol Bay from such drilling so that fisheries and marine ecosystems remained unharmed for the benefit of the fishing industry.
