10. Birdlife most likely to be impacted by OCS development are 

 the: American widgeon, pintail, scaup, oldsquaw, scoters, 

 whistling swan, cackling Canada goose, black brant, white- 

 fronted goose, emperor goose, yellow-billed loon, sandhill 

 crane, and the gyrfalcon. Many bird species have adapted 

 to be strictly dependent on estuarine habitat; no alterna- 

 tive habitat will suffice. 00 



5.2.7 Bering Sea (St. George Basin) 



Description of the Region 1 ° 1 



The Bering Sea is a large, relatively confined area of 550,000 

 square miles. The continental shelf, accounting for 44 percent of the 

 total Bering Sea area, is one of the largest in the world and extends 

 more than 375 miles offshore in the northeast sector. It is a flat 

 gently sloping plain with an average depth of less than 325 feet. 

 The St. George region of the Bering Sea is situated within a 

 portion of the northeastern Pacific Ocean dominated by subarctic 

 Pacific waters. The major ocean circulation pattern of the Bering 

 Sea is cyclonic, flowing eastward along the north side of the Aleutians, 

 northward in the eastern portions of the Bering Sea and southward along 

 the Siberian coast. Locally, the surface currents are influenced by 

 prevailing winds and, therefore, vary greatly depending upon the weather. 



Generally, the maximum southern limit of sea ice in the Bering Sea 

 is from Bristol Bay to the vicinity of St. George Island in the Pribilofs, 

 North of this boundary the Bering Sea has a 50 percent ice cover for 

 5 months of the year. Ice formation begins in this area in early 



60 



