The History behind the Canada-U.S. Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries: A Seven-Decade Effort

Canada and the USA share the Great Lakes, and, for most of the region’s history, cross-border collaboration over the fishery was nonexistent, resulting in serious economic and ecological harm. This publication, which covers the late 1800s to 1955, traces the efforts to establish a binational treaty to govern the Great Lakes fishery. We explore the circumstances Great Lakes fishers found themselves in at the dawn of the 20th century, the chaos caused when multiple jurisdictions did not cooperate (called “divided governance”), the political pressures stakeholders exerted to eliminate agreements they disliked and promote agreements they liked, and the scientific community that made biological cases to act and, occasionally, stepped into the political fray. The road to establish a permanent body to ensure collaboration was long and tortuous and included two failed attempts at a treaty, one attempt in 1908 and another attempt in 1946. A third treaty attempt, the 1954 Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries between the United States and Canada, succeeded, which created the Great Lakes Fishery Commission as a permanent mechanism for bilateral cooperation. By 1954, influential persons could no longer tolerate the governments’ unwillingness to address severe declines in fish stocks and concomitant economic losses, inconsistent science, and the Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus invasion. This publication draws from hearings and debates in the Parliament of Canada and the U.S. Congress, national and international boards of inquiry, previously confidential documents that contain the strategies of those engaged in bilateral negotiations, and the literature.