BUREAU OF FISHERIES 137 
The Commission held its third meeting September 23-24 in Van- 
couver, B. C. The program of investigation, then under way, was 
discussed and that for 19389 approved. In February 1939, William A. 
Found resigned and was replaced by A. J. Whitmore. 
JAPANESE ACTIVITIES IN THE BRISTOL BAY FISHERY 
Japanese fishery operations in Bristol Bay in 1939, the tenth con- 
secutive season in which such activities have been carried on, were 
confined to the catching and canning of king or spider crabs, and 
only one floating cannery, together with auxiliary craft, was em+ 
ployed. This indicates a continued adherence on the part of the: 
Japanese Government to the assurance given in the spring of 1938 
that its official survey of the salmon in Bristol Bay would be sus- 
pended and that it would issue no license to vessels to take salmon 
in those waters. 
CONSERVATION OF WHALES 
The Protocol of June 24, 1938, which amends in certain particulars 
the International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling, signed 
at London on June 8, 1937, came into force as to the United States 
on March 30, 1939, and was proclaimed by the President on April 
8, 1939. 
The principal provisions of the Protocol of 1938, which are ad- 
vances in the measures of conservation of the whale stock of the 
world provided in the agreement of 1937, are as follows: 
(1) A prohibition against the taking or treating of humpback 
whales south of 40° south latitude by factory ships or whale catchers 
attached thereto from October 1, 1938, to September 30, 1939. 
(Article 1.) 
(2) The establishment of a sanctuary for baleen whales south of 
40° south latitude between 70° west longitude and 160° west longitude 
for a period of 2 years from December 3, 1938. (Article 2.) 
(3) A clarification of provisions in articles .7 and 8 of the agree- 
ment of 1937, which had given rise to conflicting interpretations, so 
as to make clear that no factory ship which has been used for the 
purpose of treating baleen whales south of 40° south latitude shall 
be used for that purpose elsewhere within 12 months from the end 
of the open season; that only factory ships which have operated 
within the territorial waters in 1937 shall so operate after the signa- 
ture of the protocol; that such ships shall be treated as land sta- 
tions, shall remain moored, and shall not operate more than 6 months 
in any 12-month period; and that such operations shall be continuous. 
(Article 3.) 
NORTH AMERICAN COUNCIL ON FISHERY INVESTIGATIONS 
The twenty-fifth meeting of the North American Council on Fish- 
ery Investigations was held in Boston, Mass., October 4-7, 1938. Rep- 
resentatives from Canada, Newfoundland, and the United States 
were present. At the invitation of the Council, members of the 
Fishery Advisory Committee of the Department of Commerce and 
other leaders of the fishing industry attended a general session on 
