Agreement Reached by the Pacific Salmon Commission on a Southern Coho Management Plan for the Years 2002-08

The 1999 Agreement was a major breakthrough in the history of the Pacific Salmon Treaty and helped bring a collaborative spirit to the work of the panels and technical committees.  Only one important set of issues, southern coho management, remained to be resolved after the 1999 Agreement.  The missing piece of the comprehensive framework, the southern area coho salmon management plan, was adopted by the Pacific Salmon Commission at its annual meeting held last week in Vancouver, Canada 

·        The Coho Management Plan relies upon implementation by the relevant domestic management agencies in the United States and Canada.  It implements a key provision of the 1999 Pacific Salmon Agreement between the United States and Canada under the Pacific Salmon Treaty. 

·        The plan sets the stage for the two parties to improve coordination of their respective fishery management programs, particularly their fishery planning processes, and will foster bilateral development of improved management tools and protocols.

·        The plan constrains total exploitation of coho in both countries to biologically sustainable levels that will vary annually with the changing abundance of natural coho salmon stocks.

·        The plan also specifies shares of available harvest between the two countries.

·        When fully implemented, the plan will contribute substantially to achieving the long-term conservation objectives of both the United States and Canada for coho salmon originating in Washington State and southern British Columbia