Premier Dennis Fentie says he's emphasized to Prime Minister Stephen Harper the importance Yukoners place on the Porcupine caribou herd and the Yukon River salmon.

Fentie said he raised the international issues with Harper while in Ottawa on Monday, just 10 days before the arrival of U.S. President Barack Obama on his first foreign trip following his Jan. 20 inauguration.

Whether Harper will bring the matters to the table when he meets Obama, Fentie couldn't say.

But the premier said he did impress upon the prime minister that conservation measures are cited in treaties with the United States covering both the caribou and salmon, and he did encourage Harper to bring those forward.

The prime minister has already provided Fentie and Vuntut Gwitchin Chief Joe Linklater with a letter stating Canada's unequivocal opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where the caribou calve, Fentie noted.

He pointed out to Harper that the Yukon River Salmon Agreement with the U.S. specifically mentions as a conservation concern the accidental catch - bycatch - of Yukon River salmon on the high seas.

Fentie said he informed the prime minister of the specific and growing concern over the number of Yukon River chinook being caught by Alaska's hugely lucrative pollock industry.

The premier was in Ottawa to attend Ottawa's Winterlude festival along with Yukon ministers Brad Cathers and Elaine Taylor and a contingent of Yukon artists, including dancers and snow carvers. Saturday and Sunday were designated as Yukon Days.

Taylor said in a phone interview this morning she had just come from a meeting with Department of Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea, where she told Shea of the increasing problem with the high seas bycatch of chinook.

"I do not think she was fully apprised of the situation, and how important it is to Yukon first nations, the commercial industry and the sport fishery," Taylor said.

The Environment minister said Shea committed herself to looking further into the international issue.

"I did remind her that time is of the essence, as it is expected some decisions will be made some time this spring," said Taylor, who also asked the federal minister to raise the matter with her counterparts in the new Obama administration.

The bycatch of chinook salmon has increased dramatically in recent years. The chinook caught by pollock boats cannot be sold commercially, and are either thrown back as waste or taken to port for distribution to shelters, food banks and such.

There is a move afoot on both sides of the Yukon-Alaska border to force the closure of the entire pollock fishery once the bycatch hits 32,000 chinook.

Taylor noted when the Yukon River Salmon Agreement was signed in 2002, the average bycatch was about 32,000. It hit 122,000 chinook in 2007, she pointed out.

Taylor said she reminded Shea of the international agreement that obligates both countries to reduce both the bycatch and the number of Yukon River salmon harvested by the high seas commercial salmon fishery.

"I did stress to her there is an agreement in place, and we need to work on this."

Taylor said she will follow up with a letter to Shea.

"With the very fact the premier has raised this at the highest level in this country, with the prime minister of Canada, we are very optimistic that something will be done."

Liberal MLA Darius Elias of Old Crow commended Fentie Monday for bringing the caribou and salmon concerns to Harper's attention.

"You have to give credit where credit is due," he said.

Elias said the primary goal is to have the prime minister promote permanent protection of the caribou's calving grounds, conservation of the herd's habitat and revitalization of the international caribou board.

The international board has been dormant since former U.S. Republican president George W. Bush came to office, Elias pointed out.

He said the time is right now to push for permanent protection of the calving grounds, with the Democrats holding a majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives, to go along with a democratic president.

Hopefully, said Elias, Harper raises the matter of the Porcupine caribou with Obama, as he and others have been working hard over the last couple of months to make sure it was on the agenda for Feb. 19.

The Old Crow MLA said he's also asked for a five-minute telephone meeting with Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, to urge him to raise the caribou and salmon issues with Obama during their meeting.

Elias and Chief Linklater will be travelling to Washington next month to continue the decades-old effort to lobby elected senators and representatives for permanent protection.