Sockeye Salmon

NOAA Fisheries, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game manage sockeye salmon in Alaska under the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Fisheries in the EEZ Off Alaska. To allow for consistent management throughout the state, management of all salmon fisheries in federal waters is deferred to the State of Alaska and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game regulates the salmon fisheries in Alaska by setting escapement goals. These goals are in place to ensure that enough salmon escape the fishery and are able to successfully return to freshwater and spawn – replenishing the population. Each year, managers and scientists conduct in-season assessments to determine the number of salmon returning to freshwater to spawn. Based on these returns, harvest limits are set, and scientist and managers will monitor and record both catch and escapements in real time. When abundance is high and the number of fish returning is much higher than needed to meet escapement goals, harvest levels are set higher. When abundance is low, and catch levels are exceeding escapement goals, harvest levels are set lower and the fishery may close earlier than expected. There are hundreds of different sockeye stocks in Alaska with some stocks being in decline and others remaining steady or increasing. Efforts to further conserve the population include:

• Captive-rearing in hatcheries
• Removal and/or modification of dams
• Restoration and acquisition of key habitat

The Pacific Salmon Commission helps coordinate management and research of shared international sockeye stocks between the US (Alaska, Washington, and Oregon) and Canada. The Commission is comprised of a sixteen-person body with four commissioners and four alternates representing the interest of commercial and recreational fishers as well as federal, state, and tribal governments from each country. The body was originally formed by the US and Canadian government to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty. First ratified in 1985, the Pacific Salmon Treaty is a bilateral agreement that aims to prevent overfishing, provide optimal harvest, and ensure equal benefits of salmon production between the two countries. The US, along with Canada, Russia, Japan, and South Korea, is also a member of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. The primary goal of the Commission is to provide a mechanism for international cooperation of sockeye and other salmon species in the northern Pacific Ocean.

Sockeye salmon are rarely caught in the federally managed waters off the US West Coast that fall under the jurisdiction of the Pacific Fishery Management Council. However, there are sockeye fisheries in the Columbia River (Washington and Oregon), Fraser River (Washington), Puget Sound (Washington) as well as in smaller, coastal rivers throughout Washington. These fisheries are primarily managed through state agencies and tribal governments as well as the Pacific Salmon Commission. Captive rearing of salmon in hatcheries supports nearly all fisheries on the US West Coast.