APPENDIX VI APPENDIX 
35 
The International Pacific Halibut Convention between the United 
States and Canada provides for a Commission and a separate scientific 
staff which carries our conservation and management studies on Pacific 
halibut. The Pacific halibut fishery is located almost entirely within 
200 miles of the coasts of the United States and Canada, from the 
northern Bering Sea to the coast of Oregon. However, most of the 
fishing occurs off the Alaskan coast of the United States, although many 
United States vessels from Pacific Northwest ports in the United States 
fish off the coast of British Columbia. The long and successful history 
of this particular conservation convention and the excellent relations 
existing between the United States and Canadian government and fishermen 
would seem to dictate that the International Pacific Halibut Commission 
will continue after the United States extension of fishery jurisdiction. 
However, some consideration should be given to the allocation of the 
catch, with an increased proportion going to the United States since the 
majority of the halibut resource is located within 200 miles of the 
United States coast. In recent years, the incidental catch of Pacific 
halibut by Japan and the U.S.S.R. have apparently contributed to a 
reduction in the productivity of Pacific halibut (Figs.5 and 6). 
VI 
The International Pacific Salmon Fishery Commission, another bilateral 
convention between the United States and Canada, has provided for the 
successful rehabilitation of the Frazer River stocks of sockeye and pink 
salmon. The Frazer River salmon were decimated during the early years 
of the twentieth century when railroad construction in the Frazer River 
canyon of Canada dumped thousands of tons of rock in the river and 
almost completely blocked the upstream migration of adult salmon to 
their spawning areas. Cooperative studies by scientists of the two 
countries provided evidence of this block and fish ladders were installed 
in the Frazer River during the 1930's permitting the salmon to continue 
their upstream migration. Since that time, the Frazer River sockeye 
salmon runs have been increasing, and the two nations have been coop- 
erating successfully in the conservation and management of these stocks. 
In very recent years both countries have sought to amend the 
present convention, and currently negotiations are under way to revise 
the Convention and alter the allocation of the catch between the fisher- 
men of the two countries. The United States and Canada have become 
increasingly concerned about interceptions by fishermen of both countries 
of salmon bound for the rivers of each country, and they have agreed in 
principal to attempt to reduce these interceptions. It is likely that 
in the near future a new and revised international convention, governing 
the conservation and management of the salmon stocks of common concern 
between Canada and the U.S., will be negotiated to attempt to resolve 
this problem. 
Executive agreements pertaining to the North Pacific Ocean and 
Bering Sea will be significantly altered by the extension of fishery 
jurisdiction. If the time comes when the foreign countries, whose 
fishermen fish in the area, accept the extended 200-mile fisheries 
426 
