Egegik Bay (Yup'ik: Igyagiim painga) is a bay located just 69.1 miles from Dillingham in Alaska and the northeastern arm of the Bristol Bay. The Egegik (Igyagiiq in Yup'ik) village is located on a high bluff along the southern shore of the Egegik River at the upper extent of Egegik Bay. The nearest places to Egegik Bay are Coffee Point (3 km north), Coffee Point (4 km north), Goose Point (4 km north), Egegik Airport (5 km west), and Bartletts Airport (6 km north).
The first recorded contact by non-Natives was with Russian fur traders between 1818 and 1867. [1] The Egegik Yupik is one of the five Central Alaskan Yup'ik dialects. Local people are Central Alaskan Yup'ik people and would travel each year from Kanatak (an Alutiiq village) on the Gulf coast through a portage pass to Becharof Lake (south-east of Egegik). From there they would hike or kayak on to the Egegik Bay are for the summer fish camp. [2]
Although tideland areas adjacent to the coast are important for providing habitat to some species of birds as well as harbor seals, by far the most important and sensitive habitat area occurs at the mouth of the Egegik River within Egegik Bay. The remainder of Egegik Bay is included within tideland management unit R12T-02 and contains extensive areas of eelgrass, harbor seal haulouts, and waterfowl use. Beluga whales are present in the northern part of Region 12, although Egegik Bay is not known to contain calving areas. [1]
The Egegik Community (R12T-03) is a major commercial Pacific salmon fishing area. Pink, chum, sockeye, coho and chinook salmon are harvested (drift net) commercially in Egegik Bay (R12T-01 & R12T-02) and at the mouth of the Egegik River. [1] Fishermen will find a variety of fish including coho salmon, dolly varden and pink salmon here. [3]
| Latin | American English | Alaskan English | Central Alaskan Yup'ik |
| Oncorhynchus tshawytscha | Chinook salmon | King salmon | Taryaqvak |
| Oncorhynchus nerka | Sockeye salmon | Red salmon | Sayak |
| Oncorhynchus keta | Chum salmon | Dog salmon | Kangitneq |
| Oncorhynchus kisutch | Coho salmon | Silver salmon | Qakiiyaq |
| Oncorhynchus gorbuscha | Pink salmon | Humpback salmon | Amaqaayak |
| Salvelinus malma | Dolly Varden | Trout or Char | Yugyaq |
Eskimo or Eskimos are the indigenous circumpolar peoples who have traditionally inhabited the northern circumpolar region from eastern Siberia (Russia) to Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The river's source is in British Columbia, Canada, from which it flows through the Canadian Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is 3,190 kilometres (1,980 mi) long and empties into the Bering Sea at the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. The average flow is 6,430 m3/s (227,000 ft3/s). The total drainage area is 832,700 km2 (321,500 mi2), of which 323,800 km2 (126,300 mi2) is in Canada. The total area is more than 25% larger than Texas or Alberta.
The Yupik are a group of indigenous or aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East. They are related to the Inuit and Iñupiat peoples. Yupik peoples include the following:
Lake and Peninsula Borough is a borough in the state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,631. The borough seat of King Salmon is located in neighboring Bristol Bay Borough, although is not the seat of that borough. The most populous community in the borough is the city of Newhalen. With an average of 0.0296 inhabitants/km2, the Lake and Peninsula Borough is the second least densely populated organized county-equivalent in the United States; only the unorganized Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area has a lower density.
Dillingham, also known as Curyung, is a city in Dillingham Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 2,329, down from 2,466 in 2000.
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, 702 miles (1,130 km) long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.
The Kenai River called Kahtnu in the Dena'ina language, is the longest river in the Kenai Peninsula of south central Alaska. It runs 82 miles (132 km) westward from Kenai Lake in the Kenai Mountains, through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and Skilak Lake to its outlet into the Cook Inlet of the Pacific Ocean near Kenai and Soldotna.
Bristol Bay is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, (180 mi) wide at its mouth. A number of rivers flow into the bay, including the Cinder, Egegik, Igushik, Kvichak, Meshik, Nushagak, Naknek, Togiak, and Ugashik.
The Nushagak River is a river in southwest Alaska, United States. It begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest 450 km (280 mi) to Nushagak Bay, an inlet of Bristol Bay, east of Dillingham, Alaska.
The coho salmon is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family, one of the several species of Pacific salmon. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name is based on the Russian common name kizhuch (кижуч).
Ekuk is a small unincorporated community in the Dillingham Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of both the 2000 and 2010 U.S. Censuses, it had a population of 2. It is classified by the U.S. Census as an Alaska Native Village Statistical Area (ANVSA). Until 2002 it was the site of a large fish processing operation owned by Wards Cove Packing Company. Currently, it is inhabited mainly by seasonal fishing families who set gillnet in the nearby waters of the Nushagak Bay for mid-summer runs of sockeye salmon, early season runs of king salmon and late season runs of silver salmon.
Becharof Lake is a 37-mile (60 km) long lake on the Alaska Peninsula. It is located 23 miles (37 km) south-east of Egegik, in the Aleutian Range. It is the second largest lake in Alaska after Iliamna Lake. It ranks eighth on list of largest lakes of the United States by volume and fourteenth on list of largest lakes of the United States by area.
Southwest Alaska is a region of the U.S. state of Alaska. The area is not exactly defined by any governmental administrative region(s); nor does it always have a clear geographic boundary.
The Egegik River is a waterway in the U.S. state of Alaska. A biological survey was conducted at the base of the Alaska Peninsula in 1902 by Wilfred Hudson Osgood, which included the Egegik River.
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik, , are an Eskimo people of western and southwestern Alaska ranging from southern Norton Sound southwards along the coast of the Bering Sea on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and along the northern coast of Bristol Bay as far east as Nushagak Bay and the northern Alaska Peninsula at Naknek River and Egegik Bay. They are also known as Cup'ik by the Chevak Cup'ik dialect-speaking Eskimos of Chevak and Cup'ig for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect-speaking Eskimo of Nunivak Island.
Becharof National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in the Aleutian Range of the Alaska Peninsula of southwestern Alaska. It is adjacent to Katmai National Park and Preserve. This national wildlife refuge, which covers an area of 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km2), was established in 1980 to conserve major brown bears, salmon, migratory birds, caribou, marine birds, and mammals and to comply with treaty obligations. It lies primarily in the east-central part of Lake and Peninsula Borough, but extends eastward into the mainland portion of Kodiak Island Borough. The refuge is administered from offices in King Salmon.
Nunivak Cup'ig or just Cup'ig is a language or separate dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska at the Nunivak Island by Nunivak Cup'ig people. The letter "c" in the Yup’ik alphabet is equivalent to the English alphabet "ch".
Yup'ik clothing refers to the traditional Eskimo-style clothing worn by the Yupik people of southwestern Alaska. Also known as Cup'ik clothing for the Chevak Cup'ik-speaking people of Chevak and Cup'ig clothing for the Nunivak Cup'ig-speaking people of Nunivak Island.
Yup'ik cuisine refers to the Eskimo style traditional subsistence food and cuisine of the Yup'ik people from the western and southwestern Alaska. Also known as Cup'ik cuisine for the Chevak Cup'ik dialect speaking Eskimos of Chevak and Cup'ig cuisine for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect speaking Eskimos of Nunivak Island. This cuisine is traditionally based on meat from fish, birds, sea and land mammals, and normally contains high levels of protein. Subsistence foods are generally considered by many to be nutritionally superior superfoods. Yup’ik diet is different from Alaskan Inupiat, Canadian Inuit, and Greenlandic diets. Fish as food are primary food for Yup'ik Eskimos. Both food and fish called neqa in Yup'ik. Food preparation techniques are fermentation and cooking, also uncooked raw. Cooking methods are baking, roasting, barbecuing, frying, smoking, boiling, and steaming. Food preservation methods are mostly drying and less often frozen. Dried fish is usually eaten with seal oil. The ulu or fan-shaped knife used for cutting up fish, meat, food, and such.
Bella Hammond was an American activist and commercial fisherman. Hammond served as the First Lady of Alaska from 1974 until 1982 during the tenure of her husband, former Governor Jay Hammond. She was the first person of Native Alaskan descent to reside in the Alaska Governor's Mansion.