Envoys Support High-Level Pacific Salmon Talks

Tue., Jan. 13, 1998

Associated Press

The two special envoys pondering the stalled U.S.-Canadian Pacific salmon talks Monday recommended government-to-government talks to reach an interim deal for up to two years.

The U.S. government had urged talks among stakeholders - those with a business, recreation or cultural interest in salmon - as a means of reaching an agreement on how to manage the resource.

But the envoys - Canadian David Strangway and William Ruckelshaus of the United States - said it was clear from their analysis, which included holding a stakeholders meeting in Seattle last month, that the process wasn’t working - at least not enough to guarantee an agreement could be reached before the start of the next fishing season.

“It was our conclusion that reconvening the stakeholders did not make sense,” Ruckelshaus said.

Although the report suggests Canada should get more salmon when harvests are divided, Ruckelshaus and Strangway said its purpose was not to say one side or the other should “win.”

“We’re talking about getting out and resolving this issue,” Strangway said.

Right now, Ruckelshaus added, it is unclear whether the fish are going to win or lose, but it is critical the fish win in the long run.

“This report is no instant fix nor was it intended to be,” Canadian Fisheries Minister David Anderson said in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the envoys’ report also was released.

“It clarifies that government-to-government negotiations are the best way to resolve our differences and that we cannot rely solely on the stakeholders to do that for us,” Anderson said.

In Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright said:

“While disappointed that a basis was not found to restart the stakeholders process, we continue to view the process as an important resource in tackling the salmon issue and believe that the stakeholders have an important continuing role in implementation of the report’s recommendations.

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