200 



origin sockeye in the SEAK seine fisheries illustrate, fixed harvest ceilings also reduce 

 management flexibility in the face of changing mo size or distribution, and increase 

 conflict between treaty parties when the magnitnde of interceptions increases. As 

 discussed by the U.S. Section with regard to the Fraser River fisheries, the allocation 

 of TACs in percentage shares would allow for 'fair sharing by U.S. fisheries in the 

 case of larger runs, and, reciprocally, fair sharii^ of burden if runs decline". 



Fixed harvest ceilings should be replaced by Total Allowable Catch limits (TACs) 

 based on the number of salmon that are present in a given year in excess of the 

 number that must return to spawn in order to maximize recruitment for stocks 

 that need to be rebuilt and maximize sustainable yield for more productive stocks 

 (i.e., the escapement goal). Depressed stocks may require more spawners to 

 maximize the number of recruits than to provide for maximum sustainable yield. 

 The TACs should also allow sufficient numbeis of fish to escape harvest to 

 provide for adequate genetic diversity and to illow salmon to fulfill other 

 ecological roles. TACs based on recruitment or sustainable yield maximization should 

 be based on escapement goals that have been increased by 10% to hedge against 

 uncertainty until the actual escapement necessary to protect salmon genetics and the 

 ecosystems which salmon are part of is known. Such TACs would increase or 

 decrease with salmon abundance, and would be set at zero when abundance is 

 projected to be close to the escapement goal. TACs should be set for a few indicator 

 stocks distributed over the entire region of Pacific salmon harvest. Weak stocks such 

 as the Snake River fall chinook, Oregon Coastal Natural coho, and one or more of 

 Washington state's critical stocks should serve as indicators, so that all salmon 

 fisheries mixed with weak stocks are restricted to harvest levels that do not pose an 

 irreversible risk to them. While such a policy woold impose burdens on Canadian 

 fishermen this year, changes in ocean productivity or salmon distribution may result in 

 restrictions on US harvests to protect Canadian weak stocks. In any case, it is a sound 

 conservation policy. 



3. Allocate transferable percentage shares of tte TACs to each treaty party. 



Transferable percentage shares could potentially provide a mechanism to reduce 

 conflicts over allocations and interceptions, promote the efficient use of resources, and 

 increase overall economic benefits. For example, in the SEAK District 104 seine 

 fishery, sockeye from the Fraser River is an important bycatch species. Under a 

 system of transferable percentage shares, bycatcb quotas allocated to fishermen in 

 Fraser Panel Area fisheries could be leased or sold to the SEAK seine fleet in order to 

 cover the bycatch of Fraser sockeye. Under this system, Canada would be 

 compensated for foregone harvest opportunities, while the U.S. would have greater 

 flexibility to prosecute productive fisheries in which Canadian-origin fish are 

 intercepted by acquiring sufficient percentage shares from Canada. 



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