The United States and Canada have agreed to limit the number of albacore tuna fishing boats from each country that can operate in waters controlled by the other.
The two nations now have unlimited access to each other's waters under a 1981 treaty, but American fishermen have complained that an increasing number of Canadian boats have been crowding waters off the West Coast since 1998.
As many 300 Canadian boats fish off the coast of Oregon, Washington and northern California during the summer a number the U.S. fishing industry considers a threat to its livelihood.
Groups representing U.S. fishermen pushed for an agreement that would limit the number of Canadian boats in U.S. waters but not prohibit U.S. fishermen from working in Canada when necessary. American tuna boats operate primarily along the U.S. West Coast, but occasionally travel into Canada when the albacore stock migrates northward.
President Bush submitted to the Senate this week an amendment to the 1981 treaty that authorizes changes agreed by negotiators from both countries.
The amendment would put into law an agreement reached last fall to restrict Canada to 170 fishing vessels per year in U.S. waters as of June 1. The number of Canadian boats would decline to 140 in June 2004 and 125 in June 2005.
Because the Canadian fishing season is shorter than the U.S. season, the number of U.S. boats operating in Canadian waters would be restricted on a monthly basis. An average of 170 American vessels per month would be allowed in Canadian waters in 2003. The number would decrease after that.
Under the agreement, two U.S. vessels spending a month each in Canada would count the same as one vessel spending two months there.
Wayne Heikkila, executive director of the Western Fishboat Owners Association, a California-based fishing group, said the agreement would prevent potentially ugly confrontations between Canadian and American fishermen. "There's never been any violence but there's been some tension ... and aggressive behavior," Heikkila said. The proposal "is one of those things where nobody really likes the outcome, so that probably means it's workable."