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Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

U.S./Canada Agreement Offers Foundation To Build Upon

For Immediate Release

(6/3/99)-- After several months of government-to-government discussions, a comprehensive, long-term fisheries management agreement has been reached under the U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty. The agreement offers a solid foundation upon which weak salmon stock recovery can be built, said officials of treaty Indian tribes in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

"This agreement creates a strong base on which salmon and salmon habitat can be protected and restored. It is a conservation-based approach to salmon fisheries management," said Wm. Ron Allen, Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) representative for the treaty Indian tribes.

Ensuring sustainable salmon harvest levels is the goal of the management agreement, which works to protect many of the West Coast salmon species listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Strict harvest controls designed to protect weak salmon stocks are at the heart of the agreement, which includes a commitment by the two countries to identify habitat concerns affecting salmon.

Ted Strong, government delegate for the Columbia River treaty tribes, noted that all of the governments worked well together over the past several months to reach the agreement. "It will be critical to continue these collaborative efforts during its implementation," Strong said. "For example, concluding the Agreement on Habitat and Restoration as part of the comprehensive package was necessary for the tribes' endorsement of the long-term harvest agreements. To make this treaty work, governments must continue to work together to address the underlying problems of depressed salmon production and productivity."

"It is our hope that this agreement will help avert the failure of the Salmon Treaty's chinook rebuilding program during the past 15 years," said Nathan Jim Sr., Vice Chair of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and a Fish and Wildlife Committee member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. "Now, by basing harvest levels on the abundance of stocks, while also recognizing the importance of habitat restoration and protection measures and the effective use of enhancement programs, we expect to see increased escapements and increased production of depressed chinook stocks coastwide."

"First and foremost, the tribes are concerned about salmon and salmon habitat," said Duane Clark, a council member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation. "We will need effective monitoring and evaluation effort to guide the implementation of this agreement to reach these goals."

Salmon are central to the spiritual, cultural and economic survival of Northwest tribes. Tribal rights to salmon are protected by treaties with the United States government. These treaties, in which the tribes relinquished millions of acres of land, reserved among other rights, the right to fish at all usual and accustomed fishing places. The tribal leaders who entered into these treaties with the United States were specific about this right, recognizing the importance of salmon to tribal cultures and way of life.

"For generations, tribes have worked to protect salmon and salmon habitat. This agreement protects the future of salmon in the Pacific Northwest, as well as tribal treaty rights," said Lorraine Loomis, Swinomish Tribe fisheries manager and PSC Fraser River Panel member.

In response to declining salmon stocks, tribes have voluntarily reduced harvests for decades, up to 80-90 percent in some cases. Still, the tribes made additional sacrifices to forge the long-term Pacific Salmon agreement.

As part of the agreement, the U.S. will reduce harvest levels on chinook stocks in southern fisheries to sustainable levels on depressed stocks that will ensure optimum production of chinook stocks over time. Harvests of coho and chum salmon will be shaped to reflect the conservation-based approach to the agreement.

"Salmon is our livelihood," said Loomis. "Tribal opportunities for economic development are extremely limited. Fishing is often the basis of many tribal economies. State governments, however, have almost unlimited opportunities for economic advancement." As part of the agreement, tribes primarily dependent on Fraser River sockeye agreed to additional harvest cuts. "Any further reductions would have left our tribal fisheries no longer economically viable, and all but eliminated our treaty right," said Loomis. "The hardships to the tribes are worthwhile because the sacrifices will ensure salmon for future generations," said Terry Williams, natural resources director for the Tulalip Tribes and a PSC Southern Panel member.

"If we rely only on harvest reductions to achieve salmon recovery, we will never succeed," Williams said. "In addition to the harvest component of the agreement, the tribes fought hard to ensure that the PSC will also work to identify salmon habitat concerns in both countries," he said.

"Salmon recovery can only be achieved through a combination of harvest and habitat reforms. For generations, the People of the Salmon have made painful harvest reductions to protect this most important resource," Williams said. "Everyone in the Northwest has a similar responsibility. It is time for developers, farmers and others to recognize this duty as well. For too long our waters have been poisoned and our salmon habitat destroyed. This has to stop."

For more information contact: Ron Allen, (360) 683-1109; Tony Meyer, NWIFC, (360) 438-1180;
Jeremy FiveCrows or Jim Heffernan, CRITFC, (503) 238-0667;

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