Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 3, 1999
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

US and Canada achieve long-term salmon management agreement

SEATTLE — Gov. Gary Locke today hailed the end of the U.S.-Canada "salmon wars" with the first long-term salmon management agreement since 1985. Joining Locke in announcing the breakthrough were Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, Canadian Fisheries and Ocean Minister David Anderson, Special White House Representative Lloyd Cutler, and Pacific Salmon Commission tribal representative Ted Strong.

The first 10-year agreement under the Pacific Salmon Treaty expired in 1995.

"It wasn’t easy, but after five frustrating years of negotiation breakdowns, we finally ended the stalemate," Locke said. "This is not 1985. Puget Sound chinook are now listed under the Endangered Species Act and we absolutely had to move salmon management between the two countries to a ‘fish first’ conservation approach and equitably sharing the catch of fish second."

Locke and Anderson announced an unprecedented conservation agreement a year ago that conserved Washington’s chinook and Canada’s coho. While it was in effect for only one season, Washington achieved significant results. For the first time in 18 years, wild chinook spawning goals were achieved this year in the Snohomish basin, and some other Puget Sound fish runs increased. The number of spawning Skagit Summer fall chinook tripled this year.

Today’s agreement reduces Canada’s catch of Washington’s chinook and coho while Washington will cut back the harvest of Canadian sockeye. The duration of the agreement is 10 years for chinook and coho and 12 years for sockeye.

Locke said: "In return for giving up a 6 percent share of the healthy Fraser River sockeye run, a 25 percent reduction in U.S. harvest, we get a 30 percent increase of critical, listed Puget Sound chinook to their spawning grounds."

"We’ll be seeing thousands of additional wild chinook and coho salmon returning to rivers on Washington’s coast and Puget Sound as well as the Columbia each year as a result of this agreement," said Kelly White, chair of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. "Our goal of putting more fish on the spawning grounds will be helped immeasurably."

"This international agreement with Canada represents a major landmark in Pacific salmon management because it finally means we will be managing salmon based on conservation, not allocation," said Jeff Koenings, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Also as part of the agreement, two regional funds will be established – a Northern Fund covering Alaska and northern and central British Columbia and a Southern Fund covering southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and the Snake River basin in Idaho. The funds, to be managed jointly by the United States and Canada, would address science, restoration and enhancement needs related to salmon production. In addition, there will be federal funding for the buy-back of non-Indian commercial fishing licenses.

The agreement also will result in significant reform to how the Pacific Salmon Commission operates.

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