L REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
fathoms. Although of much less extent, this important tract can best 
be compared with the eastern offshore banks -extending from Massa- 
chusetts to Newfoundland, and, as with the latter, equally good fishing 
does not exist in all places, some localities being much more favorable 
in that respect than others. Whenever the ship was detained in port 
by stormy weather or for the purpose of coaling, attention was paifl to 
inshore fishery matters. 
Three lines of soundings were made off the south side of Unalaska 
Island, and while they were not sufficient to demonstrate the existence 
of a defined bank, it was estimated that an area of about 2,000 square 
miles in that region is suitable for fishing. The outlines and surface 
contours of Davidson Bank, discovered about 20 years ago by Prof. 
George Davidson, of the U. S. Coast Survey, were established with 
considerable accuracy. This bank lies south of Unimak Island, extend- 
ing eastward from off the southern entrance to Unimak Pass as far as 
the shoal water surrounding Sannak Islands, and has an estimated 
area of 1,600 square miles. Sannak Bank lies to the east and southeast 
of the islands of the same name, and is elongate in shape, trending in a 
general way northeast and southwest. Its total extent is about 1,300 
square miles. Between Sannak Bank and the Shumagin Islands, an 
area of about 1,800 square miles, more or less adapted to fishing, was 
partly surveyed, the depths ranging from 38 to 74 fathoms. 
Directly to the south and southeast of the Shumagin Islands is an 
important bank, to which the same name has been given. Its outer 
margin was ascertained to follow approximately the trend of the coast 
line as formed by the adjacent islands, but its eastern limit was not 
determined. The part examined has a width of 15 to 35 miles and an 
area of about 1,800 square miles. Between there and Kadiak Island 
an extent of over 4,000 square miles was also partly developed, although 
not many fishing trials were made upon it. 
Albatross Bank, named after the Fish Commission steamer, lies off 
the southeastern side of Kadiak Island, extending its entire length, 
and also in front of the Trinity Islands. Its eastern end is practically 
continuous with Portlock Bank, and its total area was found to be 
about 3,700 square miles, the 100-fathom curve being distant 25 to 45 
miles from land. Portlock Bank is the largest single bank that has 
yet been discovered on the Alaskan coast, having an area inside of the 
100-fathom curve of about 6,800 square miles, or only about 1,600 miles 
less than Georges Bank, the second in size in the western Atlantic 
Ocean. It extends northeastward from Kadiak Island in the direction 
of Middleton Island a distance of about 120 miles, and is very irreg- 
ular in shape. From Portlock Bank the soundings were carried to 
Middleton Island, and thence to certain positions reported for the 
Pamplona Rocks, but without finding the latter. 
The total area of the fishing- grounds on the Alaskan coast examined 
by the Albatross during this short season amounted to over 23,000 
