PACIFIC SALMON COMMISSION PACIFIC SALMON TREATY
Salmon Cross Borders. So Must the Work.
The Pacific Salmon Commission is the Canada–United States body that implements the Pacific Salmon Treaty. It brings both countries together to conserve shared salmon stocks, coordinate science, and develop fishing arrangements for salmon that move across borders.
A 100-foot view of the treaty, the process, and why it matters in Southeast Alaska.
1985The Pacific Salmon Treaty was signed
2 nationsCanada and the United States
16-person bodyCommissioners and alternates from both countries
4 regional panelsAdvice organized around geography and shared stocks
WHY A TREATY?
One salmon can touch two countries.
Salmon may be born in one river system, migrate through another country’s waters, and be encountered by several fisheries before returning home. The Treaty gives Canada and the United States a shared framework for conservation, harvest sharing, science, and the hard work of managing interceptions.
01 • CONSERVE
Protect Shared Stocks
Coordinate management to prevent overfishing and support healthy, productive salmon populations over the long term.
02 • SHARE
Balance Benefits
Work toward each country receiving benefits equivalent to the salmon production originating in its waters.
03 • UNDERSTAND
Build Shared Science
Use bilateral technical work so both countries are working from comparable catch, escapement, abundance, and fishery information.
04 • RESOLVE
Manage Interception
Create a forum for negotiating how fisheries encounter salmon bound for rivers and communities across the international border.
HOW A RECOMMENDATION MOVES
Information becomes a bilateral agreement.
The PSC’s own overview describes a five-step handoff. The process begins with each country’s information and ends with domestic approval and implementation.
Countries Supply Information
Canada and the United States provide fishery results, forecasts, enhancement information, and management plans.
Technical Committees Analyze
Bilateral scientists examine catch, escapement, abundance, exploitation, and other stock and fishery data.
Panels Develop Advice
Regional panels review the science and develop recommendations for the fisheries and stocks in their areas.
Commissioners Reach Consensus
U.S. and Canadian commissioners consider the plans and conclude negotiations on Commission recommendations.
Governments Implement
The recommendations move to both national governments for approval and regulatory implementation.
Where authority sits: Each country retains jurisdiction over its fisheries and manages them consistently with the Treaty. In Alaska, domestic agencies and processes translate the treaty framework into allocations and fishery-specific regulations.
THE REGIONAL PANELS
The coast is divided by responsibility—not by the fish.
Four regional panels organize advice around the stocks and fisheries most connected to a particular geography. When fisheries intercept stocks belonging to more than one area, panels can meet jointly.
A simplified north-to-south view. The Northern and Transboundary panels are the most directly connected to Southeast Alaska.
Southeast Alaska sits in two important places.
The Northern Panel addresses shared ocean fisheries. The Transboundary Panel addresses the great river systems that begin in Canada and reach the sea through the Alaska Panhandle.
THE ANNUAL RHYTHM
Three Commission meetings. Year-round work.
The PSC holds three regularly scheduled bilateral meetings each year. Between them, technical committees, panels, agencies, and fishery managers continue the analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
JANUARY
Post-Season Meeting
Review what happened in the fisheries, examine performance and compliance, and carry lessons forward into the next planning cycle.
FEBRUARY
Annual Meeting
Panels and commissioners address recommendations, fishing arrangements, technical issues, and other Commission business.
OCTOBER
Fall Meeting
Review emerging results, technical work, implementation questions, and priorities that need attention before winter meetings.
The current major fishing regimes cover 2019–2028. Public observers may attend Commission meetings, with some committees and working groups excepted. Current meeting access, documents, summaries, and participation instructions are posted by the PSC.
WHY THIS MATTERS IN SOUTHEAST ALASKA
The treaty reaches all the way to a fishing day.
Southeast Alaska fisheries encounter salmon produced from Alaska through British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. Treaty science and fishing regimes help determine the shared conservation and harvest framework. Alaska then applies its domestic allocation and management processes to shape the rules experienced by sport fishing businesses and anglers.
Chinook + Shared Stocks
The treaty framework is especially visible through Southeast Alaska’s all-gear Chinook harvest framework, but the work also reaches northern boundary fisheries, transboundary rivers, stock assessment, enhancement, and conservation.
Treaty Fishing Regime
Shared conservation rules, abundance-based provisions, technical methods, and negotiated arrangements.
Southeast Alaska Limit
Treaty provisions and technical results shape the annual all-gear Chinook harvest framework.
Domestic Allocation + Management
Alaska determines how the available opportunity is allocated and managed among fisheries.
Sport Fishing Measures
Bag limits, annual limits, seasons, and other measures shape business planning and angler opportunity.
WHO IS AT THE TABLE?
A bilateral process built from many kinds of knowledge.
The Commission acts by agreement between both countries. The record reaching that decision is built by commissioners, regional representatives, scientists, managers, fishing interests, tribes and First Nations, and members of the public.
01
Commissioners
Four commissioners and four alternates from each country represent a range of governmental, fishing, tribal, and conservation interests.
02
Regional Panels
Panels turn technical information and regional experience into advice for the stocks and fisheries within their areas.
03
Technical Committees
Bilateral scientists, statisticians, modelers, managers, tribes, and First Nations develop and review the technical record.
04
Public + Secretariat
The Secretariat supports the process, while public observers and participants can follow meetings and bring perspective into open sessions.
HOW SEAGO ENGAGES
Carry Southeast Alaska experience into the process.
SEAGO helps connect complex treaty work with the real operating conditions of Southeast Alaska sport fishing—and helps the fleet understand when and where its perspective can matter.
SEAGO • 01
Follow the Technical Record
Track Chinook analysis, northern and transboundary issues, meeting documents, and changing assumptions.
SEAGO • 02
Bring Fleet Experience
Carry practical information about opportunity, stability, business planning, and what is happening on the water.
SEAGO • 03
Engage Alaska’s Process
Work through the domestic decisions that translate treaty outcomes into allocation and sport fishing measures.
SEAGO • 04
Report Back Clearly
Explain what changed, why it matters, and where the next opportunity for fleet participation may be.
GO TO THE SOURCE
Official pages worth bookmarking.
Use these official pages for the current Treaty text, Commission structure, meetings, technical information, and Southeast Alaska’s most relevant panels.
How the PSC Works
The Commission’s plain-language five-step explanation of the bilateral process.
Pacific Salmon Treaty
Treaty history, current fishing regimes, guiding principles, and official documents.
Commission Meetings
Current dates, public participation instructions, summaries, and related documents.
Northern Panel
Ocean fisheries and shared stocks of Southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia.
Transboundary Panel
The Alsek, Stikine, and Taku river systems connecting Canada and Southeast Alaska.
Technical Committees
The bilateral scientific groups supporting panels and Commission decisions.
FOLLOW THE PROCESS. STRENGTHEN THE REGIONAL VOICE.
Southeast Alaska belongs in the conversation.
SEAGO helps the people who understand this fishery participate early, speak credibly, and stay connected to decisions that reach from the treaty table to the water.