Canada Wants To Talk Way Out Of Fishing Dispute Fisheries Official Lets Deadline Pass For Alaskan Fishermen To Reduce Catch

Hoping to avoid a clash with the United States over endangered Pacific salmon stocks, Canada’s top fisheries official said Thursday that Ottawa will pursue high-level negotiations with Washington before taking retaliatory measures against Alaskan fishermen.

But Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin warned that if talks fail to produce dramatic reductions in the salmon catch by the Alaskan fishing fleet, Canada will be forced to act. He declined to be specific.

“All the options…are on the table,” he told reporters in Seattle, where he presented Canada’s case to Gov. Mike Lowry. “But we want, if we can, to resolve this with dialogue.”

Tobin’s apparent failure of nerve - he had set this week as the deadline for Alaska to lower its quotas of chinook salmon - drew criticism from British Columbian fishermen who say their livelihoods are threatened.

But others seemed to recognize that challenging American fishermen in U.S. waters is a trickier proposition than waylaying Spanish trawlers on the high seas, as Canada did earlier this year to protect Atlantic turbot stocks.

“He did assure us that if none of this works, then it is back to blockades and back to transit fees and all that kind of more radical action,” said Dennis Brown, spokesman for the 6,000-member United Fisheries and Allied Workers Union.

One option Canada is considering is imposition of a heavy “transit” tax on U.S. fishing vessels. Much of the Alaskan fishing fleet is based in Washington state and must pass through Canadian waters to reach the fishing grounds.

British Columbian fishermen have threatened to take action on their own. In a show of strength this week, hundreds of fishing craft blocked an Alaskan state ferry seeking to dock in Prince Rupert. Fishermen have also hinted at blockading the Alaska Highway, the land link between Alaska and the lower 48 states.