Anderson was joined in person by Washington governor Gary Locke and Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, and on the phone by Alaska governor Tony Knowles. For the Fraser River sockeye run, the U.S. share will be 16.5 percent, the officials said. This compares with last year's agreed share of 24.9 percent and a historical average of 20.5 percent between 1985 and 1996. 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 U.S. fisheries. For the first time ever, Alaska agreed to closures at low levels of abundance that will protect Canadian Coho.
Fisherman catches a big salmon in a river on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula.
The two countries understand that habitat enhancement is of primary importance. They have agreed to concentrate on maintaining adequate water quality and quantity, the achievement of improved spawning success and migration corridors for adult and juvenile salmon, and other measures that maintain and increase the production of natural stocks. The Pacific Salmon Commission will be directed to report annually to the Parties to identify stocks for which measures beyond harvest controls are required. The Commission must report on the non-fishing factors that limit production, options for addressing these factors, and progress of the Parties in implementing measures to improve production. Most elements of the agreement are contained in several new chapters that replace earlier expired versions of Chapters 1-6 of Annex IV of the Pacific Salmon Treaty.