January 15, 2025

Canadian negotiators must stand strong as salmon treaty talks with U.S. begin in Vancouver, say conservation advocates

VANCOUVER/UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH) AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES

Representatives from Watershed Watch Salmon Society and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust are available to comment on their op-ed published today in the Vancouver Sun, urging Canadian leaders to support a strong approach to Pacific Salmon Treaty renewal negotiations with the U.S. The conservationists state that a renewed Treaty must curtail unsustainable interceptions of B.C.-origin salmon by Alaskan commercial fleets and require greater transparency and modern management practices in those fisheries. 

Contacts:

Aaron Hill, Executive Director, Watershed Watch Salmon Society

aaron@watershedwatch.ca

Kaitlin Yehle, Fisheries Biologist, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust

kaitlin@skeenawild.org

David Mills, Fisheries Advisor, Watershed Watch Salmon Society

david@watershedwatch.ca

Greg Knox, Executive Director, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust

gregk@skeenawild.org

BACKGROUND:

This background provides a summary of key facts about southeast Alaska interception fisheries, and how the existing Pacific Salmon Treaty is failing to adequately protect many B.C. Pacific salmon populations.

• Southeast Alaska commercial fisheries catch sockeye, chum, pink, coho, Chinook and steelhead salmon that are migrating to Canadian rivers to spawn.
• Alaska is now the largest commercial harvester of many B.C. salmon populations. For example:
  • In 2021, nearly 470,000 sockeye bound for B.C.’s Skeena River were harvested in Southeast Alaska, while the Canadian commercial fishery was closed to protect the population.
  • In 2023, Southeast Alaska commercial seine, gillnet and troll fisheries killed an estimated 3 million Pacific salmon bound for Canadian rivers, exceeding the total Canadian harvest of 2.3 million salmon.
• The full extent of Alaskan impacts on Canadian salmon is unknown because Alaskan fishery managers refuse to count or report the numbers of salmon from non-target species that are discarded by their fleet. They also refuse to collect and share river-of-origin DNA data for several salmon species that they catch.
• In Alaska’s commercial fisheries, nearly all salmon discarded as unwanted bycatch die. Fishers in Alaska are not required to release prohibited species like steelhead back to the water with the least possible harm, as commercial fishers in B.C. are required to do as a condition of licence.
• On-board observers or video cameras are not used to provide independent verification of catch in Alaskan commercial salmon fisheries; a requirement in most modern fisheries.
• The Pacific Salmon Treaty limits Chinook harvest off Southeast Alaska and limits Alaskan harvest of Skeena sockeye prior to Fishing Week 31 (end of July). However, much of Alaska’s commercial fishing effort occurs in August, outside the coverage of the Treaty. Thus the Treaty fails to protect late-timed salmon runs, and other non-Alaskan origin salmon species with no harvest limits.
• Over 90% of Chinook harvested in the southeast Alaska troll fishery are not from Alaska. These migrating Chinook are primarily from BC, Washington and Oregon, and include salmon from threatened, endangered and at-risk populations.
• These Treaty re-negotiations could secure a more equitable sharing and sustainable management of salmon stocks that migrate between Canadian and U.S. waters when the Treaty is renewed in 2028.