Undercurrent News is now featuring 'Fish Factor', a weekly column featuring the reporting and perspective of Alaska seafood journalist Laine Welch

Is it a coincidence that one of the world’s largest mineral deposits is located near the world’s largest sockeye salmon spawning grounds at Bristol Bay? And if the likes of a Pebble Mine removed the bulk of those deep deposits that also create the world’s magnetic field, could it disrupt the salmons' ability to find their way home? 

A study, funded by Arron Kallenberg of Homer, the founder and CEO of the Wild Alaskan Company and a third-generation Bristol Bay fisherman, aims to find out.  

"It's not even been 10 years since we've discovered that salmon, sea turtles and other marine species are using the Earth's magnetic field as a way to know where they are and to make important navigation decisions. But what is the magnetic environment that they need to thrive, and what might humans be doing that might keep them from thriving," said Nathan Putman, a senior scientist at Texas-based LGL Ecological Research Associates and an expert on animals’ use of magnetic fields in migration who is leading the study [...]