Theatrics on the Briny Deep

The news photographs of a flotilla of Canadian fishing boats blockading a U.S. passenger ferry demonstrated the anger that has arisen in a cross-border fishing dispute. The immediate cause of the three-day incident last week was an allegation that Alaskan fishermen were taking too many Canadian sockeye salmon while ostensibly fishing for another species, pink salmon. The larger problem is failure to negotiate species conservation and new allocations under the 1985 Pacific Salmon Treaty between the two nations.

Blockades cannot help. This is an issue that will be decided at the negotiating table, not through silly confrontation at sea--though it’s true that newspaper and television images of the giant ferry surrounded by Lilliputian fishing vessels put the “fish wars” in the public eye.

After several rounds of failed bilateral negotiations on implementation of the fishing treaty, both governments have appointed new and capable representatives. William Ruckelshaus, former leader of the Environmental Protection Agency, heads the American side, and David Strangway, retiring president of the University of British Columbia, will represent Canada.

Even with these two veteran negotiators, the task won’t be easy. Intense passions are being generated by the catch of Canadian sockeye, a fish that fetches a higher price than the Alaskan pink. Canadian fishermen say Alaskan boats took three times what is allowed under the treaty. The Americans admit they caught the sockeye in more than the usual quantities but note that their whole catch was bigger than usual and thus more sockeye ended up in the nets. Canadians complain that the Americans are reaping the benefit of superior Canadian fish conservation measures. And so on.

In the midst of this bickering, some perspective could help. The United States and Canada share a 5,511-mile border. Bilateral trade exceeds $1 billion a day, and Canada is the largest single customer for U.S. products and services, purchasing 22% of all U.S. exports. The tone of the relationship has historically been so civilized that not too long ago Winston Churchill described the Canadian-American relationship as “an example to every country and a pattern for the future of the world.” The future of the world may not depend on whose salmon are in what net, but it’s time to reel in the “fish war.”