REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 3 
Georges Bank, in the Northern Atlantic. The best. fishing-spots occur 
in the region adjacent to Port Moller and Herendeen Bay, two impor- 
tant inlets for shelter during stormy weather, of which the entrance to 
the former and the channel through the latter were surveyed and 
mapped. A coal mine had been opened near the head of Herendeen 
Bay just previous to the visit of the Albatross, which took the first 
output of coal and found the same of good quality for steaming pur- 
poses. The starting of this new enterprise marks a decisive step 
toward the development of this region, and should it result in the 
establishment of a permanent settlement it can not fail to advance 
materially the interests of the neighboring fisheries. 
The season proved too short to complete the investigations in Bering 
Sea as originally planned, outside of the fishing-ground above referred 
to, and it will be necessary to resume the work at some future time. 
The position of the western margin of the continental platform was 
defined, however, for a considerable distance, and a good beginning 
has been made toward a knowledge of those physical and biological 
features of the sea which relate to the habits and distribution of the 
fur seal and other aquatic mammals. 
By the surveys of the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, 
the contour of the continental border has been developed from the 
shore line into depths of 200 fathoms as far south as Point Conception, 
the region between the latter place and San Diego having been pre- 
viously explored. <A great wealth of hydrographic information of value 
to navigation has thereby been obtained, in addition to a very fair 
knowledge of the fishery resources. Very few defined fishing-banks 
were discovered, but food-fishes of many species, and of good quality, 
were generally distributed along the coast. Halibut were taken as far 
south as Heceta Bank, off the coast of Oregon, but they are apparently 
nowhere sufficiently abundant south of Cape Flattery to induce the 
sending out of vessels equipped solely for their capture. Several kinds 
of flounders and of rock-cod are very plentiful, however, and only the 
lack of suitable markets stands in the way of the erganization-of an 
extensive fishery almost anywhere northward of the region tributary 
to San Francisco, where much activity has now prevailed for a number 
of years. 
A very careful series of temperature and density as well as biologi- 
cal observations in different parts of San Francisco Bay, by Mr. ©. H. 
Townsend, the naturalist of the steamer Albatross, seems to indicate 
that the waters of that region are not, as has hitherto been supposed, 
unsuited to the breeding of the Atlantic coast oysters, and further 
investigations regarding this matter are awaited with much interest. 
Should the establishment of self-sustaining beds of the larger and 
better quality of oyster prove possible in this bay, it would certainly 
tend to stimulate the development of an important industry. 
