TOWARD THE END of the season, I caught up with Bloom and the Erika Leigh in Ugashik, the westernmost Bristol Bay fishing district, where they were hoping for one last big slug of fish. I was on one of the large supply boats when the Erika Leigh motored up on our starboard side. The short season had taken its usual toll on Bloom. "We're in the black," she told me when I asked how the past two weeks had gone, "but we could really use one more big day."

She seemed tired but content. "In the black" meant that they'd gone over her 100,000-pound goal, though by how far she wasn't saying. Overall, the 2008 run totaled 40.4 million salmon, slightly above forecasts and above the 20-year average of 37 million. The total catch was 27.7 million sockeye, worth more than $113 million to the fishermen.

Since last summer, the global economic crisis has had an impact on the debate: Mining values in the state dropped from $4 billion in 2007 to $3 billion in 2008, with further declines expected in 2009. The Pebble deposit, which had been valued as high as $500 billion, is worth something like $230 billion now that mineral prices have fallen. The one bright spot is gold, which has gained in value as spooked investors have sought safe harbor from the instability of global markets. Still, Anglo American announced in February that it was laying off 19,000 employees and suspending its dividend. Spending at Pebble is down, but they are proceeding, with $59 million budgeted for 2009 to finish the research to apply for permits next year.

Until then, everything from the size of the mine to how quickly it will open is in flux, and will be, says Heatwole, the public-affairs VP. "There are a lot of questions we can't answer right now, which is a challenge," he concedes.

Both Pebble and the opposition are closely monitoring a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, expected to be decided by the end of June, which concerns the disposal of tailings in a lake near the Kensington gold mine, outside of Juneau. Meanwhile, the sniping continues—Pebble has filed a complaint against the opposition alleging illegal funding, while native groups appealed to have Pebble's exploration permits revoked, citing lax state oversight. The state Senate Resources Committee called for an independent review of Pebble's potential impact by the National Academy of Sciences.

While past polls by anti-mine groups have found as many as three-quarters of Bristol Bay residents opposing Pebble, there is still a lot of uncertainty. As state senator Gary Stevens, whose district includes the villages closest to the site and who chaired the Senate Resources Committee hearing, told me, "Sentiment is pretty evenly divided between those who want the jobs and the development and those who see preserving the salmon as the most important thing. There are no easy answers here." One woman he ran into in King Salmon told him, "What I want you to do is to keep these jobs going until it looks like the mine is going to be developed. And then I want you to kill it."

Bloom, for her part, is busy getting ready for the 2009 fishing season, having spent much of the winter traveling around the state, giving presentations—and even attending a dinner with the chairman of Anglo American's board. When we last spoke, she was setting out on a plane trip around southwest Alaska with former state senator Rick Halford to hold community meetings at native villages. The opposition's best hope? That the legislature will act to protect Bristol Bay from development. If it doesn't, another clean-water ballot measure could go to a vote in August 2010. "I never thought I'd get this deep into Alaskan politics or be flying around Bristol Bay with the former senate president in a private plane," Bloom said, "but I'm getting my education."

She still has fish from last season in her freezer. "We actually had salmon last night. Sockeye from Ugashik."