The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) provides the primary forum for international coordination of high-seas salmon research. We participate as U.S. high seas salmon and steelhead experts at annual meetings, symposiums, workshops, and research planning and coordinating meetings of NPAFC.  We also assist NPAFC in the recovery and reporting of high seas salmon and steelhead tags.  In cooperation with our research partners in the NPAFC forum, we prepare documents (research plans, data records, and results of research) to report on aspects of our international cooperative high seas salmon research.  Our NPAFC-related reports and publications can be downloaded directly from the NPAFC website.

The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) was established under the Convention for the Conservation of Anadromous Stocks in the North Pacific Ocean (signed in 1992; entered into force in 1993).  The member nations of the Commission are Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and United States of America.  The primary objective of NPAFC is to promote the conservation of anadromous stocks in the Convention Area (all international waters of the North Pacific Ocean and its adjacent seas north of 33º North latitude; international waters are located 200 nautical miles beyond the baselines from which the breadth of territorial waters are measured).

Species of anadromous stocks listed in the Annex to the Convention include chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), coho salmon (O. kisutch), pink salmon (O. gorbuscha), sockeye salmon (O. nerka), chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), cherry salmon (O. masu), and steelhead trout (O. mykiss). 

Directed fishing for salmon and steelhead in the NPAFC Convention area is prohibited; incidental taking of salmon and steelhead in fisheries directed at other species is strictly limited, and retention of incidental take is prohibited.  The NPAFC member nations can act individually or collectively to prevent unauthorized fishing activities and trafficking in illegally harvested fish, and they have the authority to board, inspect, and seize fishing vessels of other member-nations operating in violation of the Convention. Article VII of the Convention calls for extensive cooperation among member-nations in conducting scientific research for the purpose of conservation of anadromous stocks. With respect to the Convention area, cooperation includes "collecting, reporting and exchanging biostatistical information, fisheries data, including catch and fishing effort statistics, biological samples and other relevant data." Pertaining to areas adjacent to the Convention area, the member-nations can be requested by the NPAFC to provide "catch information, enhancement information, materials such as biological samples and other technical data or information related to anadromous stocks and ecologically related species." The Convention calls for the development of "appropriate cooperation programs, including scientific observer programs, to collect fishing information in the Convention Area for the purpose of scientific research on anadromous stocks." Member-nations are also to cooperate in scientific exchanges such as seminars, workshops, and exchanges of scientific personnel.