By Maggie Wall
For the Journal

Bristol Bay is the most productive wild salmon fishery in the world. Last year the bay had a harvest of more than 170 million pounds, mostly reds and kings, worth nearly $100 million to commercial fishermen.

It's Alaska's most valuable salmon fishery - nearly one-third of all earnings from Alaska salmon come from Bristol Bay. And it has the most permit holders, topping 2,800 people.

Those are just a few of the findings in a report by the University of Alaska's Institute for Social and Economic Research. It concludes that the entire region is ecosystem dependent, with salmon accounting for 52 percent of the region's subsistence harvests and 64 percent of all jobs.

Scott Goldsmith is co-author of the study, called “Economics of Wild Salmon Watersheds at Bristol Bay.” He said that salmon and the lure of salmon drive not only the commercial fishery, but also almost all of the recreational and tourism activity in the region.

Because it's so tightly wound around the fish, Bristol Bay's clock runs on a very precise annual boom-and-bust cycle. When the fish are there, there are jobs; when the fish are gone, so too, are the region's employment opportunities.

“As an economist, what was most interesting for me was to be able to quantify how much variation there was between the summer and winter - the level of economic activity that's going on out there,” Goldsmith said. “There are about five times as many jobs in the summer than in the winter. That is unprecedented...it's really amazing.”

Clam diggers take heed

A friendly reminder: It's that time of year when lots of clam diggers head to sand flats. Don't get so excited by the chase that you forget the perils associated with untested clams.

Be sure to pay attention to shellfish advisories, like for paralytic shellfish poisoning. PSP is caused by tiny marine organisms in algae blooms, often referred to incorrectly as red tides. PSP is commonly found in all kinds of clams. There's no way to know if a clam is PSP free, except with a test. And to make matters worse, neither cooking nor freezing neutralizes the toxin, which attacks the nervous system and can be a quick killer.

“It's deadly,” said Ray RaLonde, an aquaculture specialist with the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program. “It's a thousand times more toxic than strychnine. It's a neurotoxin, so it effects nervous transmission, which is why they call it PSP toxin. Often it starts out with a tingling around the face and extremities, the hands. Then it works its way through a number of symptoms, blurred vision, double vision, nausea, ultimately paralysis and cardiac arrest. Death is very quick.”

Death is also very permanent, so don't even think about dismissing warnings of PSP in clams. Best to play it safe and limit your clam digging to the freezer section at the grocery.

Take the Seven Seas quiz

We've all heard those great stories about sailing the Seven Seas. Wow, to sail the Seven Seas is the height of adventure. Those of us who live by the ocean should easily be able to name the Seven Seas, right?

Not so easy, you say. I couldn't do it, and then after some research I learned that the stories I've been told are wrong. The Seven Seas has very little to do with the world's oceans.

That's because you're thinking with a 21st Century perspective. To answer the question, you have to think of who first asked it.

Today, we tend to use the term the Seven Seas to talk about the planet's oceans and traveling by water to lands far away. But the people who coined the phrase “Seven Seas” were ancient mariners. While they may have thought they were pretty smart, they were actually clueless to the fact that there was anything “out there.”

Never mind that these folks never heard of the great cultures and civilizations on the other side of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. These people didn't even know there was an Atlantic or a Pacific Ocean. Remember, we're talking about the “Flat Earth” types who swore there were sea monsters waiting at the corner of the planet to eat them when they passed over the edge.

OK, now that you have the proper perspective, here's one final clue: Think literal. Think of “seas.” The first that comes to my mind is the Mediterranean. That's one of seven. Add the Red Sea, Black Sea, Adriatic Sea and Caspian Sea.

And of course there's always an exception or two-and in this case we have two-the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean were also included on the list. Basically, the Seven Seas included the large bodies of salt water near the hub of western civilization and in the Middle East.

For more information on the world's oceans and seas go to the Woods Hole Science Aquarium Web site at http://aquarium.nefsc.noaa.gov/, or go to www.nefsc.noaa.gov/faq/. You'll be amazed what you'll learn.

Maggie Wall is a Kodiak journalist. Her daily radio program “The Leg Head Report” is heard on stations around the state. Programs are posted at her Web site leghead.com.