With climate change, salmon bycatch from pollock factory trawlers and other factors that are causing salmon declines, it’s become even more important for us to protect salmon and other natural resources that we depend on for our existence,” said Native Village of Kwigillingok President Gavin Phillip. “We have been opposed to the Donlin Gold mine for years, but we don’t feel our concerns have been heard. The process of gathering comments was not sufficient for us and traditional knowledge was not adequately incorporated in the environmental studies.”