BUREAU OF FISHERIES 295 
favorable trend in the size composition of the marketable sizes of 
fish in area 2, the decline in production of eggs indicates a decrease 
in the abundance of spawners in that region that may be expected to 
have a further unfavorable effect upon the fishery when the young 
produced by these spawnings enter the fishery 5 or 6 years later. 
The most satisfactory explanation, at the present time, of the un- 
favorable trend in the area 2 stock must be the large amounts of halibut 
which are known to have been taken recently, both legally and illegally, 
in excess of the catch limit assigned to the area. It is apparent that a 
sharp reduction of these excess catches will be necessary to assure the 
maintenance of past improvements and to make possible further im- 
provements in the condition of the stock. 
The investigations of the Commission continued to measure the 
changes taking place in the stocks of halibut on the banks. They 
prove that the halibut fishery is still in a critical condition and that 
more effective enforcement of regulations is needed. They indicate 
that more intensive investigations than have been possible in recent 
years are necessary to guide the Commission’s future actions. 
THE INTERNATIONAL PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES COMMISSION 
The sockeye salmon season of 1939 was the second since proclamation 
of the Convention between Canada and the United States for rehabili- 
tation of the Fraser River fishery for that species, one of the greatest 
of modern conservation projects. 
The purpose of the Convention is to rebuild the great runs of sockeye 
to the Fraser River system of British Columbia. The “big” run of 
every fourth year until 1913 would be worth $30,000,000 at present 
prices, but the largest of recent years has been worth about $4,500,000. 
To restore these runs, the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Com- 
mission was created, consisting of three members from Canada and 
three from the United States, in 1939, as follows: A. L. Hager, Chair- 
man, Vancouver, British Columbia; EK. W. Allen, Seattle, Wash.; C. E. 
Jackson, Washington, D. C.; A. J. Whitmore, Ottawa, Ontario; Tom 
Redi, New Westminster, British Columbia; and B. M. Brennan, 
Secretary, Seattle, Wash. 
The Commission has selected Dr. W. F. Thompson as Director of 
Investigations. 
It is provided in the understandings attached to the Convention that 
“The Commission shall not promulgate or enforce regulations until 
the scientific investigations provided for in the Convention have been 
made, covering 2 cycles of sockeye salmon runs, or 8 years.” The first 
concern of the Commission during these first years has therefore been 
the scientific investigations, but the study of natural and artificial 
