The treaty has been revised numerous times, often based on recommendations from the IPHC and its team of scientific researchers.
Following the war in 1919, the United States and Canada agreed on a closed-season treaty that also included provisions for salmon fishing.
[2] The Canadian Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, held the belief that only Canada through Parliament would determine its role within the British Empire.
After negotiations over the Rush–Bagot Treaty failed due to British involvement, King intended to push for greater Canadian autonomy.
[3] By the 1920s, halibut stocks were noticeably lower to all parties and in 1923, the treaty was ratified by the United States Congress in 1923.
[2] In a break with standard empire practice at the time, in March 1923 King demanded to sign the treaty alone, without a British countersignature.
The British initially refused but relented when King threatened to send an independent Canadian diplomatic representative to Washington, D.C.[5][8] The treaty was signed by Ernest Lapointe, the Canadian Minister of Marine and Fisheries and Charles Evans Hughes, the United States Secretary of State on 23 March and intended to last five years.