Recommendation for a Measure to Protect Anadromous Fish in the North Pacific Fisheries Commission Convention Area
The Convention for the Conservation of Anadromous Stocks in the North Pacific took effect in 1993 and has since been implemented and upheld by the members of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC). Pre-dating the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) by over 20 years, the NPAFC’s mandate was focused on protecting anadromous species by prohibiting their incidental or targeted harvest and retention. When the NPFC Convention came into force in 2015, its purpose bolstered the NPAFC’s mandate by seeking to not only ensure the long-term sustainability of NPFC fisheries resources but to protect the marine ecosystems where those resources occur.
Pacific salmon are especially vulnerable to incidental catch during their marine phase when they migrate beyond national borders where domestic management regimes and compliance monitoring can no longer provide protection. Historical high seas research surveys conducted by some NPFC Members (Canada, Japan, Russia and USA) and more recent joint surveys (e.g., the International Year of the Salmon surveys conducted by NPAFC Members) have identified that these species’ feeding and migration routes intersect with distant water fishing fleets throughout the NPFC Convention Area.
Over the past three decades, monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) findings have underscored the threat that prohibited gear types pose to salmon and more recently have demonstrated that the risk of salmon interception and retention is present among regulated NPFC fisheries. We are concerned that this risk, coupled with limited coordination between overlapping Regional Fisheries Management Organizations, could present a regulatory gap that fails to protect these species when they come into contact with NPFC fishing activity.
We propose an NPFC conservation and management measure that would introduce protections for anadromous fish equal to those that exist within the NPAFC Convention. As there is no regulated fishery for anadromous fish within the NPFC, this measure is expected to have limited to no impact on legitimate fishing activities but will ensure protection for species found in association with NPFC fisheries resources.