1999 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Landings 



(X 1.000,000 



fish) 



Landings 



r 



.,< ^' 



Figure 12-5 



Pink salmon landings, 1960- 

 97. 



Year 



effort to take ad\aiitage of abtindant sockcyc, pink, 

 and chuni salmon stocks because the ocean distri- 

 bution of these species keeps them outside the 

 range of coastal fisheries. With the prospect of even 

 further restrictions that may be required to pro- 

 tect threatened and endangered species, the future 

 viability of these commercial fisheries is uncertain. 



Hatchery vs. Wild Salmon 



The use of hatcheries to mitigate habitat loss 

 and to enhance fisheries, especially for chinook 

 and coho salmon, has raised concerns about the 

 interactions of hatchery and natural fish. While 

 hatchery fish can supplement natui.i! ptoduction, 

 they can also compete with naturally produced 

 fish. In areas where fisheries are managed on the 

 basis of hatchery production, harvest rates may be 

 higher than the natural stocks can sustain. In ad- 

 dition, some hatchery fish fail to return to the 

 hatchery, spawning in natural areas with wild fish. 

 Some hatchery brood stocks are of nonlocal ori- 

 gin, and the insertion of nonlocal genes into natu- 

 ral populations can compromise the genetic in- 

 tegrity of the native stocks and decrease their pro- 

 ductivity. To address these concerns, NMFS has 

 drafted an interim policy on artificial propagation 

 in the listing and recovery of Pacific salmon un- 

 der the laidangered Species Act. 



Bycatch and Multispecles Interactions 



Some salmon, primarily chinook, are caught 

 incidentally in the Pacific whiting fishery. While 

 the numbers are small, this is a sensitive issue given 

 that directed salmon fisheries have been increas- 

 ingly restricted. Interactions with marine mam- 

 mals have also become a sensitive issue as popula- 

 tions of California sea lions have increased. Pre- 

 dation by sea lions tends to be localized, but it is 

 also highly visible. 



Transboundary Stocks and Jurisdiction 



Because salmon migrate long distances, they 

 are subject to interception by fisheries far from 

 their region of origin. Issues of alloLatioii have 

 never been easy to resolve and have been addres.sed 

 in a variety of forums. Much of the annual pro- 

 cess of managing ocean salmon fisheries b\- the 

 PFMC is concerned with the allocation of fish be- 

 tween different user groups: the United States and 

 Canada, ocean and interior-water fisheries, com- 

 mercial and recreational fisheries, and tribal and 

 nontribal fisheries. The PSC oversees the alloca- 

 tion of salmon between the United States and 

 Canada. In 1 ')')4, a breakdown of the U.S. -Canada 

 negotiations led to aggressive harvesting that com- 

 pounded forecasting errors and nearly destroyed 

 one of the most productive runs of sockeye salmon 

 from the I'raser River in British ('olumbi.i, I he 

 PSC has not reached an allocation agreement in 

 any year since then, T he allocation of salmon be- 

 tween Native American tribes and nontribal users 

 continues to be defined in Federal courts. 



1 54 



