Southeast Alaska Chinook Salmon Fishery Mitigation Program
Program Background

Salmon fisheries are vitally important to the regional economy and an essential part of the longstanding social and cultural fabric of Southeast Alaska. Annual harvest levels of Chinook salmon in Southeast Alaska are subject to provisions of the Pacific Salmon Treaty (Treaty) between the U.S. and Canada. The Treaty addresses conservation and allocation of salmon stocks that migrate across the international boundary and are harvested in the fisheries of both nations. Thus, salmon are a shared resource.

A high degree of cooperation and coordination is required between the nations to prevent overfishing, provide optimum production, and ensure that each country receives benefits that are equivalent to the production of salmon in its waters.

The annual harvest level of Chinook salmon in Southeast Alaska is set under provisions of the Treaty. Renegotiations of the Chinook salmon fishery provisions of the Treaty that set harvest levels for Southeast Alaska and Canadian Chinook fisheries off the West Coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI), as well as harvest provisions for Chinook fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, were completed in 2018. Reaching coast wide agreement on Chinook salmon harvest was very difficult due to the wide migratory range of stocks and the variability in their status. Many Chinook stocks are healthy, but others are depressed and many originating in the Pacific Northwest are listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The principal factors addressed in the Treaty negotiations included the harvest in Southeast Alaska of Chinook originating in Canada and the Pacific Northwest; the historical dependence of coastal communities on Chinook salmon fisheries; the amount of Chinook prey available to Southern Resident Killer Whales listed as "endangered" under the ESA; large number of salmon stocks in the Pacific Northwest that are listed under the ESA; the impact of the Canadian WCVI Chinook fishery on ESA-listed U.S. Chinook stocks; and the impact of U.S. fisheries on Canadian Stocks of Concern. The 2019 Treaty Agreement reduced the Canadian WCVI Chinook fishery by an additional 15% to address ESA-related conservation concerns and reduced the Southeast Alaska Chinook fishery by up to 7.5% beyond 2009 Treaty levels. These reductions were crafted to address NOAA's concerns with Southern Resident Killer Whale prey availability and impacts to ESA-listed stocks, and to address harvest sharing and conservation issues asserted by Canada. The 2019 Treaty Agreement formed the basis for securing the required ESA Section 7 incidental take permit for conduct of the Southeast Alaska Chinook fisheries.

With the signing of the 2019 version of the Treaty, the U.S. negotiators agreed that funding should also be provided for important U.S. interests. This included $22.4 million1 for Southeast Alaska to help mitigate the substantial reduction in Alaska's Chinook harvest negotiated to facilitate reductions to Canadian harvest levels. This was required to address issues with ESA-listed Chinook populations in the Pacific Northwest and the ESA-listed Southern Resident Killer Whales that rely on Chinook salmon for food. Primary impacts of the harvest reduction are on "hook and line fisheries," which include commercial troll and sport fisheries and associated interests in Southeast Alaska.

1 Includes NOAA Fisheries administrative costs.

For more information, please see the Pacific Salmon Treaty Implementation flyer (PDF 1,766 kB).