The Pacific Salmon Treaty: The 1999 Agreement and Renegotiation of Annex IV

The Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST) of 1985 requires the United States and Canada to develop periodic bilateral agreements to implement the PST's conservation and harvest-sharing principles.Beginning in 1993, long-standing disputes prevented such an agreement from being concluded.On June 30, 1999, after many years of heated diplomatic struggles, U.S. and Canadian officials reached a new comprehensive agreement.The 1999 Agreement (1) established abundance-based fishing regimes for the Pacific salmon fisheries under the jurisdiction of the PST; (2) created two bilaterally managed regional restoration and enhancement endowment funds to promote cooperation, improve fishery management, and aid stock and habitat enhancement efforts; and (3) included provisions to enhance bilateral cooperation, improve the scientific basis for salmon management, and apply institutional changes to the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC).Annex IV to the 1999 Agreement outlines, in detail, the fishery regimes to be followed by Canada and the United States in cooperatively managing the six species of anadromous Pacific salmon and trout.Before it expires at the end of 2008, the terms of Annex IV are to be renegotiated.The 1999 conservation and harvest-sharing agreement was of interest to Congress for several reasons.Most notably, a congressional appropriation of $140 million was required to establish the agreement's two regional restoration and enhancement endowment funds.Provisions of the 1999 Agreement were implemented thorough additional authorizing language and amendment of the Pacific Salmon Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. § §3631, et seq.).The 1999 Agreement under the PST regime has been implemented in accordance with existing U.S. laws pertaining to salmon conservation (e.g., Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; Endangered Species Act).In addition, the agreement's implementation determines the quantity of fish available for commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries as well as Indian treaty allocations.Many complex issues continue to challenge the PSC and the parties; several of these will likely be addressed in the renegotiation of the expiring Annex IV fisheries regimes.Many participants believe that the most difficult issue associated with the renegotiation concerns the fishery regime for chinook salmon found in Chapter 3 of Annex IV.The problems arising from the status (e.g., U.S. endangered and threatened species listing) of certain runs of chinook salmon in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and perhaps British Columbia may pose particular challenges for the negotiators.This report provides historical background about the PST, discusses issues that created difficulties in the regime, summarizes the 1999 accord, and analyzes issues that are likely to be considered during the impending renegotiation of Annex IV.The 110 th Congress will likely conduct oversight of the renegotiation process and its results.This report will be updated as circumstances warrant.

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