A B.C.-based fishing group says Canadian fishing vessels will be barred from fishing for tuna off the U.S. Pacific Coast this year after negotiations between the two countries fell apart.
Lorne Clayton of the Canadian Highly Migratory Species Foundation tells The Canadian Press his group was informed this week that American negotiators have decided there will be no reciprocal fishery for 2012.
That means Canadians fishing vessels won’t be able to catch albacore tuna in American waters, and Americans won’t be able to fish in Canadian waters.
A 1981 treaty between Canada and the U.S. that allowed cross-border fishing expired in 2011, and American tuna fishing groups had argued the existing arrangement was unfair.
Clayton declined to discuss how his group will proceed until the federal government makes a formal announcement.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has yet to comment on the U.S. decision, saying only that Canadian officials are working to find an interim solution while treaty negotiations continue.
The Canadian Press, 2012