Alaska Governor Invites Peers To Salmon Summit

Hoping to avoid another rift with Alaska’s American partners in a salmon treaty, Gov. Tony Knowles plans to meet this month with his counterparts from Washington and Oregon to discuss fisheries management.

Knowles said Saturday that he and Govs. Mike Lowry of Washington and John Kitzhaber of Oregon will hold a Pacific salmon summit in Sitka on May 20.

Alaska fishery managers said they hope the meeting will foster more cooperation among the three states over salmon conservation and allocation, issues that have been marked by squabbling over who gets to catch the fish under the 1985 Pacific Salmon Treaty with Canada.

Last year, Washington and Oregon joined Canada and Indian tribes in a federal lawsuit that accused Alaska fishermen of catching too many chinook salmon and endangering fish stocks throughout the Northwest. A judge ordered an early shutdown of Southeast Alaska’s commercial chinook season.

Canada says salmon that spawn in British Columbia waterways have been devastated during the past few years and that all parties to the treaty must reduce their catch to rebuild those populations.

Washington, Oregon and Canada last year agreed to sharply reduce chinook catches, while Alaska refused to lower its salmon limits. Alaska officials say the state’s salmon stocks are healthy, with fishermen catching a record 219 million salmon last year.