92 



The Alaska response was to label the proposal a "non-starter" before the U.S. Section had 

 an opportunity to consider it. 



FRASER RIVER SOCKEYE 



Canadian sockeye and pink salmon returning to the Fraser River system are harvested by 

 U.S. treaty and non-treaty commercial fisheries in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and San Juan 

 Islands. Catches in these fisheries constitute the majority of southern U.S. (Washington and 

 Oregon) interceptions of Canadian runs. There is a long history to the U.S. involvement 

 in fisheries on Fraser sockeye and pink salmon runs, extending back to before the turn of 

 the century. The main area of contention has involved sockeye harvest. 



.A main driving force behind the Pacific Salmon Treaty for Canada was its desire to cap U.S. 

 harvest of Fraser runs so that Canadian fishers would receive the benefits of Canadian 

 investments in enhancement of the Fraser River. 



The Fraser Annex to the Treaty captured agreements between the two countries for two 

 consecutive four year periods ending with 1992. In the first four years, the U.S. harvest was 

 ba.sed upon a percentage of the total allowable harvest. In the second four years, the U.S. 

 harvest was capped at 7.0 million sockeye and 7.2 million pink salmon, with provisions to 

 limit harvest if returns came back significantly below predictions. The agreement was 

 designed to provide the U.S. with a likelihood of achieving predictable catch levels - catch 

 levels that were above what had been harvested pre-treaty. For Canadians, the agreement 

 provided a transition from percentage-based pre-treaty harvests to a regime where Canada 

 was likely to receive benefits of its escapement efforts because U.S. catch was capped. 



Run sizes of Fraser sockeye increased dramatically in the second four years of the 

 agreement. U.S. catch, while stable in numbers of fish harvested, represented a significantly 

 smaller percentage of the harvestable numbers than historical levels. As a direct result, U.S. 

 fisheries had to be shortened far beyond expectations as harvest limits were met quickly 

 under the conditions of high abundance. 



U.S. Fraser fishery interests have long argued that the U.S. harvest should be defined as a 

 percentage of the total allowable harvest. Canada has taken the position that, in the 

 absence of direct and specific compensation in the form of harvest in some other fishery, 

 the U.S. catch should not exceed a cap of 7.0 million sockeye over the basic cycle of sockeye 

 runs, four years. 



In the current negotiating cycle, the issue of U.S. harvest of Fraser sockeye is being 

 discu.ssed within the Fraser Panel. The U.S. section of the Panel has proposed a percentage 

 based formula that would determine the U.S. harvest as a function of the Total Allowable 

 Catch in a given year. Under that approach, the U.S. harvest could exceed 7.0 million over 



