Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members. As introduced, my name is Steve Gotch. I am the Pacific region senior director of operations with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. I am accompanied here today by my colleague Mr. Wes Shoemaker, head of the Pacific salmon strategy transformation initiative.
We appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee on behalf of the department this afternoon. Following my opening remarks, we look forward to answering any questions regarding Pacific salmon stocks in the Yukon and associated departmental policies, strategies, programs and services.
As committee members likely recognize, the presence of Pacific salmon stocks in the Yukon has been integral to the environment and sustainment of people for thousands of years. Many populations of Pacific salmon in Yukon represent the northernmost range for their species. Unlike other Pacific salmon stocks, which inhabit more southern and temperate regions of western North America, over millennia salmon stocks in the Yukon have adapted to survive in often harsh subarctic conditions. As a result, many of these stocks represent the longest-lived and largest body size of their species, in many cases enabling them to migrate several thousand kilometres inland from the ocean to access spawning areas in freshwater habitats.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada is responsible for monitoring the abundance of anadromous stocks of salmon in the Yukon and works closely with self-governing Yukon first nations to coordinate the administration of first nation subsistence, recreational and commercial fisheries for Pacific salmon. Given the reality that all of the watershed inhabited by Pacific salmon in the Yukon, including the Yukon, Porcupine and Alsek watersheds, are situated, or the lower portions are situated, in the United States, Fisheries and Oceans Canada engages directly with state and federal fishery management agencies in Alaska to coordinate the assessment and management of these stocks. This engagement also involves working together to implement formal processes and requirements established within the international U.S.-Canada Pacific salmon treaty.
Over the most recent 25-year period, Pacific salmon stocks have exhibited significant change in both abundance and condition across British Columbia and Yukon. In the case of the Alsek River watershed in southwestern Yukon, certain seasons have experienced some of the highest returning abundance of adult sockeye and coho salmon to Canada, while in the Yukon River watershed, chinook and chum salmon stocks continue to decline to levels not recorded in living memory.
For Yukon River chinook salmon, this decline has been particularly profound, with the recent annual abundance representing only 10% of what was typically observed prior to 1995. This sustained decline over multiple life cycles of this species has not only resulted in profound effects on the Yukon River ecosystem; it has also created significant hardship for the people who rely on Pacific salmon as a consistent source of food, for ceremony and as an integral part of culture.
In response to the declines observed, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in collaboration with Yukon first nation governments and U.S. state and federal agencies, has undertaken numerous initiatives to improve our understanding of the abundance and health of Pacific salmon stocks in Yukon. These monitoring and research efforts, in parallel with restriction and ultimately closure of Canadian fisheries, are intended to conserve and protect adult salmon returning to their spawning grounds. Concurrently, measures undertaken to preserve and protect Pacific salmon habitats from anthropogenic development serve to ensure that the ecological integrity of areas that Pacific salmon rely on the most remain intact.
The continued decline of Yukon River chinook salmon has recently led to collaborative efforts undertaken by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and self-governing first nations to explore measures of last resort, in the most extreme examples faced with only a handful of adult salmon returning to spawning areas [Technical difficulty—Editor].
Mr. Chair, I apologize. I have a bit of a connection issue.
On April 1 of this year, following months of intensive negotiations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada reached a historical agreement with the State of Alaska that commits the governments to implement measures to protect and recover Canadian-origin salmon stocks. The agreement involves the immediate suspension of all fisheries that target Canadian-origin chinook salmon stocks in the Yukon; confirms the parties' intent to support scientific, technical and traditional knowledge research into the causes for decline; and commits the parties to development of an international stock rebuilding plan through the Yukon River Panel.
This agreement will remain in effect for a seven-year period, which is representative of one life cycle of Canadian-origin Yukon River salmon. At its foundation, it reflects the necessary actions identified by Yukon first nations people who have experienced first-hand the effects of the decline of Yukon River chinook salmon for over two decades.
We acknowledge and thank the committee for undertaking this study. We look forward to responding to any questions you may have regarding Pacific salmon stocks in Yukon.
