U.S., Canada Are Talking Salmon Again Countries’ Negotiators Trying To Renew Treaty That’s Been In Dispute Since 1994

Another round of efforts to renew the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the United States and Canada resumed Tuesday.

About a dozen people were at the table with the two chief negotiators, Mary Beth West of the United States and Yves Fortier of Canada, said Ian Todd, executive secretary of the Pacific Salmon Commission.

The sessions were closed to the press and public.

The talks began with issues involving principally Alaska and British Columbia before shifting to matters involving Oregon and Washington state, Todd said.

About 65 people have assembled for the sessions at a hotel near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Todd said. The negotiations might continue today, but there were no firm plans or agenda, he added.

The commission administers the 12-year-old treaty - when there’s a treaty to administer.

The pact, which covers salmon management in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and southeast Alaska, has not been renewed since 1994.

Disputes center on claims by Canadians that too many fish spawned in their rivers wind up in U.S. nets. The treaty guarantees each nation “equity,” defined as benefits from the fish in the proportion to spawning that occurs in each nation’s waters.

Salmon spawned in the region migrate from fresh water to the Pacific Ocean, growing to adult size on the high seas and ranging northward toward the Bering Sea and eastward toward Asia.

Returning to spawn every two, three, four or five years, depending on the species, the fish intermingle as they congregate off the Alaska Panhandle before heading south along the coast and up their rivers of origin. That gives Alaskan fishermen first crack at the most fish.

Largely because of the relative lack of development and pristine habitat, the most productive rivers for salmon in the region are in northern British Columbia and Alaska.

In the absence of treaty terms, each side has used information gathered by the commission to govern its own fisheries without a coordinated effort to preserve and enhance dwindling runs to the south.