The Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) is requesting Detailed Design and Construction Services for the Mission Hydroacoustics Site Bank Remediation and Dock Implementation Project. This Request for Quotes Notice details the requirements of the assignments.

Please see the attached document for more information:

The Pacific Salmon Commission is pleased to announce Dr. Gary Morishima as the recipient of the 2023 Larry Rutter Memorial Award for Pacific Salmon Conservation.

Gary has worked tirelessly for decades to help ensure a sustainable and resilient salmon resource for the people of the U.S. and Canada. His distinguished career has been dedicated to improving West Coast salmon management, and ensuring sustainable fish and fisheries that include significant tribal interests.

He was active in the initial Pacific Salmon Treaty negotiations and has remained devoted to its successful implementation ever since. In recent years, Gary has been a leader in bringing attention to the negative impacts of climate change on Pacific Northwest salmon populations.

Throughout his career Dr. Morishima has made many contributions to resolving U.S./Canadian issues in salmon management, particularly through technical solutions. He was part of the original bilateral working group that drafted the coastwide management regime for Chinook and Southern Coho salmon. He also helped to develop the Coded Wire Tag program and associated computer models that utilize these data to support management decisions.

Gary’s technical leadership has earned him the confidence of both parties, and he has served as a reliable expert during repeated renegotiations of the Chinook and Coho chapters of the PST since 1985. Just as important, Gary has worked to transfer his knowledge to the next generation of technical committee members.

For these and many other reasons, the selection committee chose Gary as this year’s recipient of the Larry Rutter Memorial Award. He received the award during the Commission’s 38th annual meeting at a ceremony held on February 15th.

About the award

Larry Rutter was a fixture in Pacific salmon conservation and management for more than three decades until his untimely death in 2014. He was a leading influence in how the Tribes, the United States, and Canada approached salmon management and research during the turn of the 21st century. The Commission established the award to help memorialize Larry’s lifetime of work including his legacy in the PSC, the Pacific Northwest Tribes, the Southern Fund Committee, and beyond.

Since 2016, the recipients (in order) preceding Bill have been: Lorraine Loomis, Don Hall, Brian Riddell, Phil Anderson, Jim Scott, Sue Farlinger, Bill Auger, and Gary Morishima.

Today, the Sumas First Nation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) celebrated a new era of collaboration and cooperation in Fraser River fisheries.  This was commemorated at a ceremony in Abbotsford, B.C. with dignitaries from the Sumas First Nation, DFO, the PSC, the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver, and the city of Abbotsford.

For decades, Sumas boats had been prohibited from a section of traditional fishing grounds near Abbotsford on the lower Fraser.  This is because the PSC had established a sonar fish counting station there in the 1970’s, and blocked fishing activity near its equipment to facilitate accurate counts.  However, this same stretch of river had traditionally provided ideal conditions for Sumas food, social, and ceremonial fisheries for millennia.  Consultation and coordination during the site construction was lacking, and misgivings grew with each year that passed.

After decades of entrenchment and stalemate, the three parties came together in 2021 to forge a protocol and memorandum of understanding.  This agreement allowed the resumption of Sumas fishing activity near the sonar site while launching new methods to calculate fish passage during the limited hours that fishing occurred.  U.S. and Canadian fishery managers endorsed this approach, noting that it would not affect the calculation of sockeye and pink salmon run sizes nor the total catch allowed for each country.

The successful completion of the protocol revealed the goodwill and willingness of each side to find a workable solution that respected indigenous culture and food security and the need for accurate data.  Speakers at the ceremony noted the power of such motivation, and hoped this would serve as a benchmark for problem solving in the future.

Pacific salmon are a cultural and ecological keystone species, irreplaceable and core to the identities and ways of life of Indigenous communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. This presentation summarizes insights on the sociocultural significance of Pacific salmon learned from engagement with the Tribal and First Nations Caucuses to the Pacific Salmon Commission. Access the Report For the full text of the Special Report, The Sociocultural Significance of Pacific Salmon to Tribes and First Nations, visit the Pacific Salmon Commission website (https://www.psc.org/download/333/spec…). To view an online summary of the project, visit the Earth Economics website (https://www.eartheconomics.org/psc).

The Pacific Salmon Commission is pleased to announce Mr. William (Bill) Auger as the recipient of the 2022 Larry Rutter Memorial Award for Pacific Salmon Conservation.

Bill is a long-time Southeast Alaska commercial gillnetter who made a conscious choice in 1987 to get engaged and involved in the management of the fisheries he participates in. He started locally and gradually expanded his associations and roles to encompass a larger area, broader fisheries, and more diverse stakeholders. In 2000, Bill joined the Pacific Salmon Commission family as a Northern Boundary Panel member. He quickly gained the respect of his fleet, other gear groups, agency staff, and Canadian colleagues for his straightforward style, tenacity, and having the sustainability of resources at heart. He was subsequently nominated by the Governor of Alaska to serve as the state’s alternate PSC Commissioner, appointed by the Secretary of State in 2013, and re-appointed in 2018.

Among his fellow Commissioners at the PSC, Bill is one of the few who are not employees of a management agency. He is an active salmon fisherman who takes time away from his day job to participate in the Treaty process. That he gives so much of his time, often away from his job and his family, is a testament to his interest and dedication. He is able to separate himself from issues affecting him personally, instead focussing on the larger issues affecting our shared salmon resource.

Bill has an impressive command of Treaty principles, provisions, and obligations and has drawn upon these skills with a remarkable memory to resolve many allocative disputes over limited salmon resources. In addition, he has demonstrated an impressive ability to build consensus among the various user groups he works with.

Bill also cares deeply about the resource and its ability to sustain fisheries across the Treaty landscape. He serves on the Northern Endowment Fund Committee and in this capacity often advocates for projects that aim to improve understanding of the salmon resources and its management. His insights as a fisherman are invaluable to this process.

For these and many other reasons, the selection committee chose Bill as this year’s recipient of the Larry Rutter Memorial Award. He will receive the award during the Commission’s 37th annual meeting at an online ceremony scheduled for February 16 from 4-5 p.m. PST. A Zoom Webinar link to access the ceremony will be provided on the PSC’s website here: https://www.psc.org/member-portal/.

About the award

Larry Rutter was a fixture in Pacific salmon conservation and management for more than three decades until his untimely death in 2014. He was a leading influence in how the Tribes, the United States, and Canada approached salmon management and research during the turn of the 21st century. The Commission established the award to help memorialize Larry’s lifetime of work including his legacy in the PSC, the Pacific Northwest Tribes, the Southern Fund Committee, and beyond.

Since 2016, the recipients (in order) have been: Lorraine Loomis, Don Hall, Brian Riddell, Phil Anderson, Jim Scott, and Sue Farlinger

As an international organization, the Pacific Salmon Commission has been deemed an essential service by the B.C. government. Thus the PSC Secretariat remains operational to support Canada and the United States in their implementation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Bilateral meetings are occurring (online and via telephone) and Secretariat field operations to assess Fraser River sockeye runs will occur under modified protocols. This includes test fisheries, port sampling, and hydroacoustic programs in Canadian and U.S. waters. Through the summer season, the Secretariat staff will be completing their duties through a combination of telework and in-person tasks as dictated by safety protocols and operational needs. Fraser River Panel and Technical Committee meetings will occur online to ensure uninterrupted management of Fraser River sockeye stocks in 2020.

Canadian and U.S. agencies charged with field programs in support of other Treaty provisions are coordinating their efforts continuously. Commissioners will convene online in July to discuss the status of their efforts and to determine formats for the regular PSC meeting weeks in October 2020, January 2021, and February 2021. For more information about any of the PSC’s operations, please contact the Secretariat at 604 684 8081 or info@psc.org.

The Secretariat extends its best wishes to our colleagues, friends, and delegates and is looking forward to renewed connections in-person after the pandemic passes.

Pacific Salmon Commission recommends new language for Chapter 4 under the Pacific Salmon Treaty

July 2, 2019: The Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) has recommended to the governments of Canada and the United States a new agreement for Chapter 4 (Fraser River Sockeye and Pink Salmon) under the Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST).

Signed by Canada and the United States (U.S.) in 1985, the Pacific Salmon Treaty provides a framework for the two countries to cooperate on the management of Pacific salmon. Pacific salmon are highly-migratory, often spending years at sea and travelling thousands of miles before returning to their natal rivers to spawn. A high degree of cooperation is required to prevent overfishing, provide optimum production and ensure that each country receives benefits that are equivalent to the production of salmon in its waters.

Chapter 4 covers sockeye and pink salmon stocks migrating to and from the Fraser River and was last renewed in 2014. With Chapter 4 set to expire on December 31, 2019, the negotiating team, made up of Canadian and U.S. representatives on the PSC’s Fraser River Panel, met regularly between November 2018 and February 2019 to discuss proposed amendments to the Chapter. In February 2019, an agreement-in-principle was reached during the PSC Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon.

“I’m pleased we were able to bring forward this recommendation,” said Jennifer Nener, Canadian Fraser River Panel Chair and Director of Salmon Management, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region. “Given that the Chapter was last renewed in 2014, it was still relatively current, with no major issues that needed to be addressed. That said, we did have challenging timelines and through cooperative efforts with our U.S. colleagues, we were able to update the chapter language within these timelines,” she added.

“In the time frame that we had to finish Chapter 4, the parties worked hard and had good discussions,” said Lorraine Loomis, U.S. Fraser River Panel Vice-Chair. “The new language clarified management issues to better manage the resource for both countries,” she added.

Overall, Canada and the United States continue to support the existing Chapter 4 provisions and the proposed changes to Chapter 4 are minor and aimed at clarifying and updating existing procedures that further support management decisions in the coming years.

The proposed agreement has now been referred to the two governments for their legal review and ratification through formal diplomatic channels. If approved, the new agreement will be effective on January 1, 2020 and remain in force through December 31, 2028, aligning the Chapter expiration with five other fishing Chapters under the PST.

For further information, please contact John Field, Executive Secretary of the Pacific Salmon Commission at field@psc.org or by phone at 604-684-8081 (ext. 622).