B.C. salmon-protection groups want Alaskan fishery managers to stop fishers from catching Skeena River sockeye salmon in Alaskan waters before they are able to make it to B.C. to spawn.
"B.C. fisheries have been severely curtailed and closed because the run is looking so dismal, and First Nations along the Skeena River may be restricted in their food fishing," said SkeenaWild Conservation Trust executive director Greg Knox.
His group, along with Watershed Watch Salmon Society and Raincoast Conservation Foundation, is also calling on Ottawa to defend Canada's interests by doing more to protect vulnerable salmon runs from overfishing in U.S. waters.
"The Alaskan State constitution would require Alaska to take action were these to be Alaskan stocks of concern," Knox added. "We hear a lot about how well-managed these Alaskan fisheries are, but when it comes to B.C. salmon swimming through their waters, they're not walking the talk."
Pacific salmon from B.C. rivers spend their adult lives feeding in the North Pacific Ocean and swim through Alaskan waters as they make their way back to spawn in the B.C. rivers where they were born.
Many of these salmon are now being fished in Alaskan waters, less than 100 kilometres from the mouth of the Skeena River near Prince Rupert, the conservationists say.
