136 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE 
of attainment of each area limit, and closed the areas accordingly. 
it opened the 1939 fishing season on April 1 under regulations 
essentially unchanged from those of the preceding year. 
Areas 1 and 2 were closed to halibut fishing in 1938 at midnight 
of July 29, with catches of approximately 706,000 and 22,923,000 
pounds, respectively. Areas 3 and 4 were closed at midnight of 
October 29, with catches of 25,591,000 and 0 pounds, respectively. 
The investigations of the Commission’s scientific staff were con- 
tinued along the lines necessary for fulfillment of the purpose of the 
treaty. Current biological and statistical data, which form a system 
of observation of the changes occurring in the stocks of halibut as a 
result of regulation and a necessary basis for the continued rational 
control of the fishery, were collected and analyzed. The collection of 
biological data made necessary the operation of a vessel at sea. 
The abundance of halibut, as indicated by the catch per unit of 
fishing effort, showed a further increase all along the coast in 1938. 
In’ area 2, between Cape Spencer in Alaska and Willipa Bay in 
Washington, the abundance was 15 percent greater than in 1937, 
100 percent greater than in 1930. In area 3, between Cape Spencer 
and the Aleutian Islands, it was 3.5 percent greater than the previous 
year and 77 percent greater than in 19380, the last year of unrestricted 
fishing. 
Shining of the stocks of marketable halibut by means of market 
measurements was continued to determine the changes occurring in 
their composition as a result of regulation. For the first time since 
the Commission began regulating the fishery, market measurements 
failed to show an increase in the size of the fish landed or in the 
proportion of mature fish on the more depleted banks of area 2. The 
maximum proportion of larger sizes from the stock of young avail- 
able at the time regulation began appears to have been reached and 
a further increase in the larger sizes may not occur until the increas- 
ing stock of young has had time to grow up. 
Observation of the effect of regulation on the production of spawn 
in area 2 was continued by means of net hauls taken at sea during 
the winter spawning season. Analysis of the catches of eggs indi- 
cated that the increase observed in their abundance from 1934-385 to 
1936-37 was not continued in 1937-38 and 1938-39. No special sig- 
nificance can yet be attributed to the failure of production in the 
latter 2 years to equal the high level of 1936-87, because of the vari- 
ations that occur normally from year to year among marine species, 
but it is to be suspected that it may be associated with the changes 
in size composition mentioned above. 
INTERNATIONAL PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES COMMISSION 
Work of an experimental and preliminary nature, to establish facts 
upon which the permanent program could be based, was carried on 
during the 1988 season. A compilation and analysis of the great 
mass of existing records of the sockeye run to the Fraser River 
was nearing completion by the end of the year. A survey of the 
spawning grounds was begun. The adult migrants in salt water were 
tagged and extensive recoveries made on the spawning grounds. 
