Upstream Battle Toward Salmon Deal Sides Hope Attention At Apec Forum Prompts Productive Talks Between U.S., Canada
The West Coast salmon war turned ugly this summer off the coast of British Columbia, with a ferry blockade, lawsuits and no end of angry words.
The confrontations have cooled with the fall weather, and now politicians on both sides of the border hope some of the diplomacy of last week’s APEC forum will rub off on the divisive regional issue.
How long the good feelings from APEC might last is anyone’s guess.
Already, Canadian fishermen say they may demonstrate against plans by Alaska to detain some Canadian fishing boats. And as a result, Alaska is having second thoughts about resuming state ferry service to Prince Rupert.
Salmon wasn’t on the agenda for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. But as an icon for the north Pacific coast, it was hard to miss.
President Clinton, for example, dined on salmon at least twice during his Vancouver stay, browsed salmon artwork at an Indian crafts store and met other APEC leaders at a museum filled with artifacts of the fish that has been central to coastal Indian and white culture.
Encouraged to produce results because of the Asian economic crisis, APEC ministers identified 15 product areas for tariff reductions, and agreed to try to totally eliminate tariffs and trade barriers on nine of those sectors by 2000. Among those products were fish and forestry products, major industries in this province.
It frustrates British Columbia Premier Glen Clark that the 18 Pacific Rim economies could agree on such complex matters, but his province and the states of Alaska, Washington and Oregon can’t decide how to share fish.
“It’s absolutely crazy that we can make progress with developing countries on trade issues and here we are, two countries, the two best friends in the world, and we can’t get people together on this debilitating dispute,” said Clark, who did his best to publicize the stalemate during the Vancouver meeting.
The Pacific Salmon Treaty, signed in 1985, spells out how each country and Indian tribe will share and manage fish in the waters off Oregon, Washington, southeast Alaska and British Columbia. It hasn’t been renewed since 1992, because negotiators can’t agree on how to divide the catch.
Canadian fishermen, many struggling to make a living and keep their boats and homes, contend Alaska boats are endangering salmon stocks by catching too many of the fish that spawn in British Columbia rivers. After treaty talks again failed last spring, their anger spilled over in July, with scores of British Columbia fishing boats blockading an Alaska state ferry at Prince Rupert for three days.
Earlier, the province had detained four U.S. fishing boats traveling through Canadian waters, and Clark had threatened to kick the U.S. Navy off a torpedo testing range off Vancouver Island.
After the blockade, the two countries appointed former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Ruckelshaus and former University of British Columbia President David Strangway to try to resolve the treaty dispute. British Columbia sued Alaska to force compliance with the salmon treaty, and Alaska sued the British Columbia boatowners over the ferry blockade.
Clinton and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien touched on the salmon issue during their bilateral talks at APEC. Clinton said he believes Ruckelshaus and Strangway, and talks by fishermen and other stakeholders in the salmon issue, can produce an agreement.
“I am committed to this,” Clinton said. “I think this issue has gone on too long.”
Canadians are skeptical the stakeholders process will work.
“We have tried so many different ways and we get nothing,” said Dennis Brown, Clark’s adviser on salmon.
Brown said the only way the matter will be resolved is if the two countries’ leaders demand it. Canadian fishermen especially want Chretien to get tough with the United States, he said.
“What’s driving people in the industry nuts is it’s mainly talk about talk,” Brown said.
“The fact that Clinton has indicated he is trying to solve it is good news. I think they know it’s an irritant and they want to solve it,” Clark said after the two chief executives met. “I’m not sure the stakeholder process, the way they’re talking about it, will do it. I think we need some form of arbitration, but I still think it’s a positive step.”
APEC has working groups and year-round staffers who try to smooth the way toward trade and other agreements before the annual summits. And, noted Sergio Marchi, Canada’s trade minister, this year there was strong incentive to agree in the summit’s spotlight.
“What would have happened if we would not have had agreement on these 15 sectors?” Marchi said. “That would have sent a message that at the time when the markets are seeking confidence and forward thinking that APEC blinked.”
Canada especially pushed to include fish and forest products in the group of nine sectors earmarked for early tariff removal.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Rick White, R-Wash., both at the APEC forum as congressional observers, said the attention from Clinton and Chretien should be a helpful nudge to resolving the issue.
“Having worked on this forever and having been disappointed numerous times, I think the Strangway-Ruckelshaus and stakeholders process really does have a unique opportunity for succeeding,” Murray said. “And I think what makes me feel more optimistic about it now is even Clark is starting to say this is a way to make it happen, and that means people are willing to sit down and work it out.
“I think the other thing that is real clear is people are saying, ‘Wait a minute. This is a small part of our actual economy - less than 1 percent - and we are letting this issue infiltrate into all of our other relationships.”’
But Brown said he feared Clinton and Chretien would issue “some pious platitudes” over the salmon stalemate and do nothing else. Salmon involves longstanding ways of life and livelihoods for coastal towns - tough areas in which to reach compromise, Brown said.
“This is a longstanding dispute,” said Bob King, spokesman for Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles. “It’s not going to be resolved overnight by the president or the prime minister.”
xxxx TREATY OF ‘85 The Pacific Salmon Treaty, signed in 1985, spells out how each country and Indian tribe will share and manage fish in the waters off Oregon, Washington, southeast Alaska and British Columbia.