US and Canada Move to Protect Certain Stocks
 

John Duff, M.A., J.D., LL.M.
 

Faced with declining coho and chinook salmon populations, the United States and Canada recently increased their efforts to conserve certain west coast fisheries. With the 1998 salmon fishing seasons approaching, fishery administrators in both countries are faced with difficult decisions in trying to sustain the fish stocks without unnecessarily impacting the people and communities affected by the conservation efforts.

In the United States, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has recommended designating a number of evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) of salmon as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. If those listings occur, regulations and restrictions required to protect the species and their habitat could impact water use, sewage treatment, housing development, surface water management, and hydro-electric energy production. In Canada, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has announced that fishing for coho salmon will be prohibited in 1998 and fishing for other stocks that may result in coho bycatch could be severely restricted. The restrictions will affect employment in the commercial, recreational, and tourist economies of British Columbia.

Over the course of the last twelve months, both countries have taken steps to reduce the myriad detrimental impacts on salmon stocks. The efforts illustrate the concern of the two countries in managing valuable fish stocks which face the same type of overfishing threats that wiped out once plentiful cod stocks in the Atlantic. Adding to the complexity of the issue are the wide range of land-based activities that impact salmon habitat areas. Mixed responses are coming from the communities affected by the protective measures.
 

The Resource

Pacific salmon constitute enormous value to the commercial, recreational, and aboriginal groups that harvest them. In a good year, commercial and recreational salmon fishing represents hundreds of millions of dollars to west coast economies. The five species of salmon that spawn in the western rivers of North America from California to Alaska play a significant role in the economy, culture, and society of American, Canadian, and native peoples.

Unlike species that spend their entire life cycle in salt water, salmon are anadromous, that is when they mature to reproductive age, they return to spawn in the same fresh water rivers from which they originated. Scientists have observed that salmon return with great precision to the stretch of a river where they were born and that even within a particular species, ESUs exhibit identifiably unique genetic characteristics. But while science has been helpful in identifying particular salmon and their geographic origins, questions remain regarding population dynamics and methods of sustaining stocks.
 

Threats
 

In broad terms, the two major threats to a fishery are overfishing and habitat degradation. Each of those has a number of components or factors to consider. Overfishing may occur as a result of an increase in the targeting of a particular species or stock. Alternatively, a non-target species could be overfished as a result of a high bycatch rate in another directed fishery. The inherent difficulty in accurately assessing fish stocks often means that overfishing threats are usually only acknowledged after the fact.

While overfishing is often pointed to as the primary, if not exclusive threat to the sustainability of a fishery, anadromous species are subject to a wider array of impacts. The proliferation of dams in the Northwestern United States and British Columbia over the course of the last century is considered to be the most significant human-caused change impacting salmon.⁽¹⁾ And while many innovative efforts have been made to enhance upstream access, such as fish ladders, a dam significantly reduces the number of salmon that would traverse an otherwise unimpeded river. Other inland activities also affect salmon habitat. Intensive logging alters the land surrounding rivers and causes erosion and siltation. Agricultural and stock-raising waste can seriously pollute rivers and raise water temperature. Water diversion for irrigation and drinking water reduces the flow of rivers.
 

Efforts to Maintain Sustainable Salmon Stocks
 

ESA listing

Some stocks or ESUs of a particular species may be abundant while others may have been wiped out or be on the brink of extinction. In some instances, fishery administrators may impose regulations or restrictions aimed at protecting the species as a whole. In other cases, individual stocks or units may be identified for protection. In the United States, recent actions by NMFS illustrate a unit-by-unit approach to conservation. Recent Canadian efforts illustrate a whole-species approach.

In February, a NMFS Biological Review Team (BRT) concluded that nine ESUs of Chinook Salmon were either "currently at risk of extinction" or "at risk of extinction in the foreseeable future." ⁽²⁾ The BRT recommended that the ESUs be designated either as "endangered" or "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.⁽³⁾ Listing under the ESA would prohibit all fishing of the listed ESUs and would trigger the requirement of designating critical habitat areas. Critical habitat area designation could require the imposition of land use restrictions in or near the habitat areas of the listed ESUs.

Faced with the specter of stringent federal regulations, state and local governments have attempted to devise their own protective measures to pre-empt federal efforts. Washington state governor Gary Locke noted the importance of finding solutions at the local and state level to curtail possibly more onerous federally imposed regulations, "If we don't respond, if they don't like our plan, then they take over regulation of our land and water and our daily lives."⁽⁴⁾
 

Fishing Restrictions

In the United states, two regional fishery management councils are responsible for administering the commercial and recreational harvesting of pacific salmon. In April, the Pacific Fishery Management Council called for restrictive salmon seasons to ease the pressures of overfishing of coho and salmon stocks. Under the restriction, no coho can be harvested in areas south of the northern Oregon coast. North of that area, coho and chinook quotas were reduced approximately 40% from 1997 harvests levels.

In Canada, federal fisheries minister David Anderson announced that there will be a total ban on all forms of targeted coho fishing in 1998.⁽⁵⁾ Anderson also indicated that efforts to conserve coho were likely to include restriction on other salmon fishing where coho bycatch would be likely. While most of the commercial, recreational, and aboriginal fishers acknowledged that steps must be taken to avoid a total collapse of the coho fishery, many continue to argue that the broad ban is overly burdensome and that some healthy stocks will be wasted by the restrictions aimed at coho bycatch reduction. One sports fishing advocate claimed that the move would have "devastating consequences on the economy of the recreational fishing industry."⁽⁶⁾ Anderson's response to such claims is that the ban "is about taking the necessary steps before it is too late."⁽⁷⁾
 

Conclusion
 

A number of important issues will be unresolved as the 1998 salmon fishing seasons commence. The U.S. and Canada are unlikely to reach agreement on stock assessments and a common concept of proper conservation limits on fishing. In the United States, the proposed ESA listing of certain stocks raises additional questions. Critical habitat designation for salmon spawning areas and corridors lay in the future; and state efforts to curtail federally imposed restrictions continue. In Canada, efforts by the province of British Columbia to wrest some authority away from the federal government pits the fisheries minister in a two front campaign to both maintain federal credibility on fisheries issues while addressing legitimate concerns of west coast fishers. Yet while the disputes over jurisdiction, scientific evaluation, and fishery allocation continue, some of the recent efforts in both countries indicate that there is a recognized need to address the threats facing salmon stocks. Whether the obstacles to addressing that fundamental issue can effectively be overcome, remains to be seen.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Conclusion
 

A number of important issues will be unresolved as the 1998 salmon fishing seasons commence. The U.S. and Canada are unlikely to reach agreement on stock assessments and a common concept of proper conservation limits on fishing. In the United States, the proposed ESA listing of certain stocks raises additional questions. Critical habitat designation for salmon spawning areas and corridors lay in the future; and state efforts to curtail federally imposed restrictions continue. In Canada, efforts by the province of British Columbia to wrest some authority away from the federal government pits the fisheries minister in a two front campaign to both maintain federal credibility on fisheries issues while addressing legitimate concerns of west coast fishers. Yet while the disputes over jurisdiction, scientific evaluation, and fishery allocation continue, some of the recent efforts in both countries indicate that there is a recognized need to address the threats facing salmon stocks. Whether the obstacles to addressing that fundamental issue can effectively be overcome, remains to be seen.
 
 
 
 
 
 

1. 1. National Research Council - Comm. On Protection and management of pacific Northwest Anadromous Salmonids, Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest 60 (National Academy Press 1996).

2. 2 Myers, J.M., R.G. Kope, G.J. Bryant, D. Teel, L.J. Lierheimer, T.C. Wainwright, W.S. Grant, F.W Waknitz, K Neeley, S.T. Lindley, and R.S. Waples. 1998 Status review of chinook slamon from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and California. U.S. Dept. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo NMFS-NWFSC-35. In eight cases the conclusion was reached by a majority of the BRT: Central Valley Spring-Run ESU; Central Valley Fall-Run ESU; Puget Sound ESU; Lower Columbia River ESU; Upper Willamette River ESU; Upper Columbia River Spring-Run ESU; Snake River Fall-Run ESU. The BRT unanimously concluded that the Southern Oregon and california Coastal ESU was likely to become at risk of extinction in the foreseeable future. The BRT also noted that the Sacramento River Winter RUN ESU was classified as "endangered" in 1994 while the Snake River Spring- and Summer Run ESU was already listed as "threatened". Id.at xxi - xxv.

3. 3 NOAA Press Release 98-R112, Fisheries Service Proposes Protection for 13 Salmon, Steelhead Populations on West Coast (February 26, 1998).

4. 4 Rob Taylor, Compromises Likely on Salmon Protection, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 5, 1998, at 1.

5. 5 See Celia Sankar and Miro Cernetig, Ottawa Bans B.C. Coho Fishery, Toronto Globe and Mail, May 22, 1998, at 1.

6. 6 Id. quoting Gerry Kristianson.

7. 7 Id. quoting Anderson.
 

University of Mississippi