ALASKA BEAT
Sockeye salmon that begin their spawning run in Alaska rivers and continue on into British Columbia waters are a point of contention between segments of U.S. and Canadian fishery worlds. (T. QUINN/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
WHOSE SALMON ARE THESE?
T
here’s a bit of a border dispute brewing between Southeast Alaska and British Columbia. It's a beef for sure, but it’s about salmon steaks and not T-bones. A study commissioned by BC’s Watershed Watch Salmon Society and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust concluded that the majority of 800,000 sockeye caught in Alaska waters were headed upstream to Canadian rivers. “Alaskan fisheries intercept and catch salmon of all species from British Columbia in Southeast Alaska,” the report states. “There is growing concern that as Canadian salmon abundance declines, and Canada closes or restricts its fisheries, Alaskan catch continues to have an impact on Canadian salmon and steelhead populations.” And needless to say, Canadian wild fish advocates are not happy about the statistics. “We knew that the Alaskans were catching a lot of BC salmon, as they have for a long time, but it was pretty jarring to see how their share of the catch has grown as ours has dwindled to protect salmon,” said Aaron Hill, president of Watershed Watch Salmon Society, in a report by Glacier Media’s Coast Reporter newspaper. While the article says there isn’t much legally that can be done at present due to the Canada-US Pacific Salmon Treaty agreement, many Canucks aren’t holding back in their criticism. “The Alaskans need to shut down this dirty fishery. It only exists to intercept B.C. salmon migrating through their waters,” Hill said in the newspaper report. After that story was published, the state of Alaska responded with a strong statement that cited the migratory movement of Pacific salmon across international and state borders as common behavior. Alaska Department of Fish and Game commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang objected to the content of the report, and said that he was “disappointed by what I consider to be a targeted attack on Southeast Alaska salmon fisheries by these special interest groups.” Vincent-Lang brought up the countries’ shared Pacific Salmon Treaty obligations and added, “I take our obligations to fulfill Treaty commitments seriously. Moreover, I find the timing of the release of this report to be suspect, as it coincides with ongoing Pacific Salmon Treaty meetings. The summary comments were subjective and one-sided and appear to be designed to derail Pacific Salmon Treaty talks.”
TWEET OF THE MONTH And in my fifth winter in Alaska, I finally bought a real winter coat. -Adelyn Baxter @adelynbaxter, Jan. 12
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NOTABLE NUMBER Where Forbes magazine ranked Alaska in its poll of the top 10 hunting states in America
“ THEY SAID IT
“I have a lot of mixed feelings. I really feel like the time is right. I mean, radio is my passion. And I think radio rules in Alaska, because of its remoteness. I have to admit that once I hit 70, I really got tired of the daily deadlines. But when I originally had decided to get out of everything, the writing and the radio, I really had some difficulty accepting that, because I still love what I do. I still learn something new every day.”
–Journalist Laine Welch, who’s retiring after 33 years hosting the Alaska Fish Radio show, to KDLG radio
aksportingjournal.com | FEBRUARY 2022
ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL
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