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Washington State congressional Delegation 

 Septemiser 3, 1992 



fish or provide equivalent benefits through enhancement or other 



means . 



Canada's strategy up to and after conclusion of the treaty has 

 been to exact payment for U.S. interceptions through its 

 fisheries off the west coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI) . The 

 overwhelming majority of coho and chinook salmon in WCVI 

 fisheries are coho from Washington and chinook from Washington, 

 Oregon and Idaho. From Canada's point of view, it makes no 

 difference if the United States' harvest of Canadian fish takes 

 place in Washington or Alaska, that harvest is paid for with 

 interceptions in Canada's WCVI fisheries. 



Pacific salmon migrate widely and intermingle throughout the 

 north Pacific Ocean. As a result, fishing fleets from one 

 country inevitably intercept salmon originating in the other. 



There are major intercepting fisheries in both countries. 

 Fisheries in Alaska harvest chinook stocks from Washington, 

 Oregon and Idaho. Alaskan fisheries also intercept coho, 

 Chinook, chum, sockeye and pink salmon from British Columbia. 

 Canadian fisheries harvest chinook and coho from Washington but 

 harvest few Alaskan stocks. 



The northward migration of chinook and coho places Washington at 

 a geographic disadvantage, while the 1985 Treaty limited Alaskan 

 and Canadian interceptions of Washington stocks, continued 

 substantial northern harvest of our stocks requires Washington to 

 severely constrain its chinook and coho fisheries. Washington's 

 only major intercepting fishery is the commercial harvest of 

 sockeye and pink salmon returning to Canada's Fraser River. 



The Pacific Salmon Treaty was intended to balance overall 

 interceptions, Canadian and U.S., including those off of both 

 Washington and Alaska. The Treaty has one root in a 1930s 

 Convention between the U.S. and Canada. The Convention was 

 established to provide for coordinated management of Fraser River 

 sockeye and provided that Washington commercial fishers harvest 

 50 percent of the sockeye in waters adjacent to the Fraser River. 

 By the 1980s, the view that this arrangement was unfair became 

 predominant in Canada. Canada began implementing a strategy to 

 reduce the U.S. 50 percent share of sockeye and began increasing 

 its interceptions of U.S. origin salmon. In particular, Canada 

 encouraged fisheries on U.S. coho and chinook off the WCVI. 



Several Pacific Northwest chinook stocks declined dramatically. 



