Yukon Salmon Study Funds for Alaska

The purpose of this announcement is to provide public notice of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s intention to transfer funds to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to allow them to collect information for meeting conservation and management commitments made to Canada under the Yukon River Salmon Agreement. In December 2002 representatives from the United States and Canada signed the Yukon River Salmon Agreement. The Agreement, which is an annex to the Pacific Salmon Treaty, obligates the United States to certain financial, conservation, and management commitments regarding Canadian¬-origin, Yukon River salmon.

The Yukon River Salmon Act (16 USC 5724) recognizes the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as the responsible management entity for the United States for the purposes of any agreement with Canada regarding management of salmon stocks originating from the Yukon River in Canada. Fulfilling U.S. conservation and management commitments of the Agreement requires an enhanced knowledge of Yukon River salmon stocks to ensure that the agreed to passage of salmon to the Canadian border is achieved without unnecessarily foregoing harvests of salmon in U.S. waters.

The Yukon Salmon Act (16 USC 5727) authorizes funding to the Department of the Interior for obtaining such information. Funds for Yukon River Treaty (i.e., Yukon River Salmon Agreement) implementation as authorized under the Yukon River Salmon Act are appropriated annually to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to meet financial obligations under the Agreement and to bolster knowledge of Canadian-origin salmon to meet conservation and management commitments to Canada.