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Southeast Alaska Fisheries 



Canada has emphasized that overall, Canadian interception of U.S. salmon has 

 decreased, while U.S. interception of Canadian salmon has reached record high levels. 

 The issue of U.S. interception of Canadian salmon is most evident in Southeast Alaska 

 (SEAK). In SEAK (the District 104 seine fishery in particular), sockeye salmon from 

 the Canadian Nass, Skeena and Eraser river systems are incidentally caught by U.S. 

 fishermen. Total sockeye and pink salmon catches in the District 104 (Noyes Island, 

 Alaska) seine fishery have increased considerably over the years. 



Under the terms of the PST, the District 104 fishery is limited by a sockeye quota 

 (four-year, 1990 -1993, total catch of 480,000 fish) prior to Statistical Week 31. 

 Sockeye salmon from the Nass and Skeena Rivers are most prevalent in the District 

 104 fishery prior to Statistical Week 31. During the first three years of the Annex, the 

 District 104 fishery had harvested 348,169 sockeye prior to Statistical Week 31 

 (NBTC, 1993) This left a balance of 132,000 sockeye for harvest in the 1993 season 

 prior to Statistical Week 31. The fishery opened on July (Statistical Week 28), and by 

 July 22 (Statistical Week 30) approximately 41,000 sockeye were still available to the 

 District 104 seine fishery (NBTC, 1993). A ten hour opening on July 22 resulted in a 

 harvest of 72,255 sockeye, or 31,358 (6.5%) sockeye over the 480,000 Annex limit 

 (NBTC, 1993). During Statistical Week 30, the sockeye catch represented 16.7% of 

 the total catch of salmon in the District 104 seine fishery. 



After Statistical Week 30, the U.S. fishery is no longer constrained by sockeye bycatch 

 (although Canadian-origin sockeye is still harvested), as the fishery proceeds to harvest 

 the bulk of the available pink salmon run. In 1993, sockeye catch as a percent of all 

 salmon catch in the District 104 seine fishery was 12.9% in Statistical Week 31, 

 declining to 10.1% in Week 32, 3.6% in Week 33, and 4.5% in Week 34. 



Conflicts over the interception of Canadian sockeye remain since the catch of Eraser 

 River sockeye peaks in Statistical Weeks 33 and 34. The catch of Eraser River 

 sockeye in this fishery had increased from 10,000 in 1985 to 191,000 in 1993. The 

 1993 catch of 191,000 represented 0.78% of the total Eraser run. The increased catch 

 of Eraser River sockeye is due to a number of factors: increased catches of pink 

 salmon have resulted in increased sockeye bycatch; more Eraser sockeye have been 

 available to the District 104 fishery as a result of increased run size; and possibly, 

 variations in oceanographic conditions have affected sockeye migration routes. Since 

 Eraser sockeye comprise less than 2% of the total annual catch of salmon in the 

 District 104 fishery, controls on their interception may require foregoing harvest 

 opportunities on productive pink runs. The U.S. has not counted the SEAK catch of 

 Eraser sockeye towards its Eraser Area treaty allocations. The U.S. holds that 



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