STATEMENT BY
DAVID ANDERSON
 MINISTER OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA
Pacific Salmon Treaty

Vancouver, British Columbia
June 03, 1999

I am honoured to be here today with Governor Gary Locke of Washington State without whose leadership and commitment to conservation today’s announcement would not be possible; also with us is Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon whose passion and vision have helped drive a long process to a successful conclusion.

Lloyd Cutler was appointed by President Bill Clinton as Coordinator of the US side; the benefit of his experience and distinguished career resolving difficult issues has been instrumental to the breakthrough achieved this year.

Joining us by telephone is the Governor of Alaska, Tony Knowles whose integrity and openness have been tremendous assets. While we have not always agreed, he always maintained constructive dialogue and that has been of enormous value getting us here today. I’d also like to welcome Ron Allen, and the US Chief Negotiator Jim Pipkin. Joining me is Don McRae, Chief Negotiator for Canada. My colleague Lloyd Axworthy, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is unable to be here today, but I’d like to thank him for his support and hard work on this issue over several years.

I am very pleased to announce that Canada and the United States have reached a comprehensive, long term agreement under the Pacific Salmon Treaty. We now begin a new era of effective conservation and more equitable sharing of the precious salmon resource.

The agreement includes the following four elements:

• Long term fishing arrangements governing northern boundary fisheries, transboundary rivers, northern boundary coho, southern coho, Fraser River sockeye and pink, chinook salmon coast-wide, and southern chum. These arrangements are based on a cooperative framework called abundance-based management that is more sensitive to conservation requirements than previous bilateral approaches.

• Two Pacific Salmon Treaty Endowment Funds totaling $140 million, administered jointly and funded by the US Government for habitat, stock enhancement, science and salmon management initiatives in both countries.

• Strengthened institutional arrangements for cooperation among scientists and fisheries managers from our two countries.

• Finally, a formal, joint commitment by both nations to protect and restore salmon habitat.

Last year, we in Canada adopted very tough conservation measures to put the fish first in our own waters. This new agreement with the United States builds on the same approach. Instead of fighting over a shrinking pie, we will now be working together to conserve stocks. It’s a good deal because conservation will mean more fish for Canada’s future.

The Pacific Salmon Treaty was signed in 1985, at a time when salmon stocks were in relative abundance. Naturally, both nations were focused on controlling interception fisheries and maximizing their catch shares. 

However, the world has changed. Over the last several years, west coast salmon have experienced volatile environmental conditions, poor ocean survival, habitat degradation and over-fishing, all of which led to a serious decline in stocks.

Today’s agreement modernizes the Treaty, bringing it in line with a changed environment. This agreement will assure conservation requirements are met, and will share both the burdens and benefits of conservation more equitably on both sides of the border.

New conservation-based fishing arrangements will deliver more fish to Canada, and bring greater certainty and stability, benefiting not only the stocks, but also fishermen and fishing communities all along the coast. This deal ends the annual gut-wrenching roller coaster ride that has preceded each fishing season in the absence of an agreement.

Let me turn now to a few remarks on the specifics of the agreement.

First, we have adopted a framework called abundance-based management to guide the various species-specific fishing arrangements.  In most cases, it replaces the long-standing practice of negotiating what we called catch ceilings.

The problem with ceilings was that they came to be regarded as guaranteed quotas, and each side felt it had the right to fish that quota whether the stocks could sustain that level of fishing or not. In a period of fluctuating abundances and declining ocean productivity, this contributed to the deterioration of stocks on both sides of the border and an increasingly unacceptable burden of conservation being paid by Canadian fishermen and communities.

The abundance-based framework in the new agreement, starts with the health of the stocks, rather than the entitlement of either nation’s fishing fleets. 

Adopting abundance-based management has opened the door for specific fisheries arrangements that better meet the needs of conservation, and share the burden of conservation more equitably.

I’d like to turn now to the various long term fishing arrangements concluded in this agreement. All arrangements are for ten years, except Fraser River sockeye, which is set for twelve years.

For Canada, the new arrangements deliver more fish.

For the Fraser River sockeye run, the US share will be 16.5%.  This compares with last year`s agreed share of 24.9% and a historical average of 20.5% between 1985 and 1996. To illustrate the improvement, if this arrangement had been in place in the 1985 to 1996 period, Canadian fishermen would have caught 4.1 million more fish.

For sockeye, pink and chum fisheries, where stocks are in relatively good health, the new arrangements will restrict US interceptions, or increase Canadian catch.

For weak stocks, such as south coast coho salmon, northern boundary coho, and chinook salmon coastwide, the new arrangements will provide additional protection for Canadian stocks in US fisheries. For the fist time ever, Alaska has agreed to closures at low levels of abundance that will protect Canadian Coho.

It was recognized in the Strangway-Ruckelshaus Report that fish needed to move to Canada. Today’s agreement delivers that.

More fish to Canada means greater numbers returning to spawning grounds when stocks are weak, and larger harvests when stocks are healthy. Conserving stocks, and sharing the burdens and benefits equitably is a victory for everybody. After all, conservation means more fish in the future for everyone.

Canada and the United States have also agreed to several other enhancements to the Treaty that focus on conservation. These are: the establishment of two endowment funds, a bilateral statement on habitat, establishment of new rules to implement the technical dispute settlement provisions of the Treaty, a new bilateral Panel on Transboundary Rivers and the addition of a Committee on Scientific Cooperation to the Pacific Salmon Commission.

Responsible resource stewardship is built on sound science.  Since the salmon do not recognize borders, neither should our science.  Strengthening the institutional underpinnings of cooperation will, we hope and expect, ensure that the good will evident today lives on in the years ahead.

The Pacific Salmon Treaty Endowment Funds are an innovative addition to the Treaty context.  Two funds, one in the North and one for the South totaling $140 million, will be administered jointly by both countries and funded by the US Government.  The funds will invest in habitat, stock enhancement, science and salmon management initiatives in both countries.

For example, we anticipate some early projects might include improvements to the Fraser River fishways, strategic stock enhancement of sockeye in the north, better collection systems for scientific data and habitat restoration.

The idea of a US fund has been on Pacific Salmon Treaty tables for some time.  In fact, it was included in the Northern Stakeholders’ Report of May 1997.

The Funds are really more about the future than the past.  In broad terms, this entire agreement under the Pacific Salmon Treaty recognizes that governments and citizens of both countries must do a great deal more than just manage harvests.  We must protect and restore salmon habitat; we must deepen our knowledge of the salmon, and we must improve cooperation between our two nations for the long-term good of the resource.  

The 1999 agreement recognizes these responsibilities, and launches a number of concrete measures to meet them, including the Pacific Salmon Treaty Endowment Funds.

History tells us today’s accomplishment is no small matter. Sharing these migratory salmon stocks has been a vexing issue for our two nations since the turn of the last century. It took 15 years to negotiate the Treaty now in place.

In the last decade, as we attempted to renew the Treaty, an array of procedural strategies were attempted and put aside in succession.  We negotiated within the Pacific Salmon Commission.  We negotiated government-to-government. We attempted mediation.  We had a stakeholders process.  Despite enormous efforts and energies of all those involved, deadlock prevailed.

But dynamics began to shift following an intervention by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and President Bill Clinton. Their representatives, David Strangway and William Ruckelshaus recommended, among other things, that the governments return to the table and negotiate directly – first interim arrangements to stabilize a hostile environment, then a long-term agreement.  We followed their advice as completely as we could. That step-by-step approach renewed confidence and trust, and indeed contributed to our success today.

Through all the arduous phases of negotiations there were voices in both countries calling for confrontation.  But when progress was made, we were talking to each other, not to television cameras.

Still, no doubt there will be critics of today’s agreement. In fact, even before the details of this agreement were known, the criticism began. Some people will argue that they did not receive every last fish they believe they are owed. Once again, the Strangway-Ruckelshaus report says it best: "…if recovery is to occur both sides need to look for solutions, not for reasons to continue the impasse." Both sides did look for solutions, and we found them in conservation-based arrangements that will bring long-term benefits to everyone.

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the quiet brilliance of Canada`s chief negotiator, Professor Don McRae. Since taking this assignment in March 1998 he has worked skillfully not only in pursuit of Canada’s interests, but also in pursuit of a workable agreement fair to all parties.

We also greatly benefited from Canadian leadership on science and fisheries management throughout the technical discussions. I would like to acknowledge the hard work of Pat Chamut, Paul Sprout, Dr. Brian Riddell, Ron Kadowaki, Dave Peacock, Sandy Johnson, and Wayne Saito, all Fisheries and Oceans Canada staff with vast experience and encyclopediac knowledge of Pacific salmon and its fisheries.

I also know many Canadian stakeholders in the harvesting sector who have worked diligently on this issue for years. Their work was incorporated into the Canadian position and much of what we have negotiated and agreed to today was first introduced in the stakeholder reports.

All in all, we have an effective and fair agreement – to put fish first. This is a good deal for Canada and it is a turning point.  It will allow us to reverse the mistakes of the past. We now shift from fighting over the division of a shrinking pie, to growing a larger one together.  While the path ahead will still need hard work and determination, if we stay on the course, rewards of responsible stewardship await us, and those who come after us.

Thank you.