PACIFIC COD FISHERIES 395 



men to disentangle from the hook and line. The}' do not become 

 abundant until the latter part of June, when the fishermen generally 

 move on to Baird Bank. 



Probably the finest cod secured on any of the Alaska banks are 

 taken on Slime Bank. 



Baird Bank. — Baird Bank, so named by Captain Tanner of the 

 Albatross in honor of Prof. Spencer F. Baird, the first United States 

 Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, was then generally known to 

 the fishermen, and is yet to a few of them, as the Port Moller bank 

 or ground. As described and charted by the Albatross, it commences 

 a few miles east of Amak Island and extends northeastward off the 

 northern side of the Alaska Peninsula to the vicinity of Cape 

 Chichagof, at the mouth of the Ugaguk River, a distance of about 

 230 miles. It has an average width of about 40 miles and an extreme 

 width of 58 miles, its total area being estimated at about 9,200 square 

 miles, making it the largest known bank in Alaska, and some 800 

 square miles larger than Georges Bank in the North Atlantic Ocean. 



The Albatross investigations, however, indicated a strong proba- 

 bility that the Kululak ground and the region off Cape Pierce are 

 really extensions of this bank, the investigations not having been 

 carried to a definite conclusion with respect to this matter. Outside 

 of Bristol Bay the observations were not carried beyond the limits 

 of the bank as defined by the Albatross, and the entire width of its 

 western portion still remains to be determined. It is also not im- 

 possible, according to Captain Tanner, that some connection may be 

 found to exist between Baird and Slime Banks to the north of Amak 

 Island. A line of stations from Cape Newenham to the Northwest 

 Cape of Unimak Island, however, showed good fishing only in the 

 vicinity of land. 



Like Slime Bank, but few harbors are to be found along the shores 

 adjacent to Baird Bank. Vessels occasionally take refuge in Port 

 Moller, Herendeen Bay, and Port Heiden, but usually the vessels 

 ride out the storms or draw in close to the peninsula shore during 

 southeast winds. 



Kululak Bay. — Kululak Bay occupies a large part of the region 

 included between Cape Constantine and Cape Newenham and con- 

 tains Hagemeister Island and the Walrus Group. Within this area 

 the Albatross investigators found cod in isolated spots, scarcely en- 

 titled to the name of banks. Extensive shoals occur off Hagemeister 

 and the Walrus Islands, 6 fathoms being found about 15 miles to 

 the southward of the latter. The principal fishing grounds are out- 

 side of these shoals as well as to the eastward and westward of them, 

 in depths of 12 to 25 fathoms, the bottom consisting generally of 

 sand, with some mud and gravel, and the fauna being essentially the 

 same as on Baird and Slime Banks. 



Some years ago the fishermen occasionally resorted to a small 

 ground, called Gravel Bank, situated about 16 miles south-southwest 

 from the southern end of Hagemeister Island, where large cod were 

 reported to be abundant. It has depths of 16 to 20 fathoms, but 

 its size is inconsiderable. 



Vessels entering Bering Sea fish first on Slime Bank, usually in or 

 just off Dublin Bay. From here they work to the eastward, leaving 



