136 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
A few attempts have been made to employ cod trawls on Slime Bank, but they 
were not attended with satisfactory results, as the jelly-fishes interpose too great an 
obstacle to this kind of fishing. This bank, moreover, is otherwise better suited to 
the use of hand lines, on account of the shallow water and the abundant supply of 
fish. There are no available harbors along the adjacent coast, although excellent 
protection may be found in Shaw Bay during southeast to southwest winds. Winter 
fishing would, therefore, be attended with much danger from the heavy storms which 
then prevail, and the season is chiefly limited to the summer months, when omy 
occasional moderate blows occur. It is the opinion of Captain Tanner that a well- 
found fishing schooner could anchor anywhere on Slime Bank between May and 
September, with an even chance of being able to ride out any gale she would encounter. 
Amak Island . — Amak Island lies about 11 miles off Izenbek Bay, and, as indicated 
by the dredging work, seems to be surrounded by a comparatively barren region, 
some 18 to 20 miles in width, which may be regarded as separating Slime Bank from 
Baird Bank. How far seaward these conditions hold was not determined, as all of 
the dredging and fishing stations were within a short distance of the island. Beam 
trawling was carried on in five different positions 5 ^ stations Nos. 3269-3272), but with 
poor results, the bottom fauna being far from rich. 
Nine trials were made with hand lines in depths of 10 to 35 fathoms. Two of 
these proved entirely unsuccessful, while at the remainder the total catch amounted 
to 33 cod, weighing only 260 pounds, an average weight of about 7.9 pounds apiece. 
The average length for the several trials ranged from 23 to 29§ inches. So. far as the 
evidence goes, therefore, fish are less abundant and of smaller size in this region than 
on the adjacent banks. This may be due in part to the presence of numerous sea 
lions, which haul out upon Amak Island, Sea Lion Rocks, and the neighboring coast, 
but it is probable that some other cause must also be held accountable for this condi- 
tion of affairs, especially as regards the scarcity of invertebrates and the relatively 
smaller size of the cod. Walruses are likewise plentiful in this region, but they are 
not fish-feeders. 
Amak Island affords fairly good protection on its southeast and southwest sides, 
and can easily be reached from the contiguous parts of both Slime and Baird banks. 
Baird Bank . — Baird Bank, generally known to the fishermen, in part at least, as 
Port Moller bank or ground, was named by Oapt. Tanner in honor of the late Prof. 
Spencer F. Baird, the first TJ. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. It is the largest 
of the fishing- grounds yet discovered on the Alaskan coast. As described and charted 
by Capt. Tanner, it commences a few miles east of Amak Island and extends northeast- 
ward, off the northern side of the Alaska Peninsula, to the vicinity of Cape Chichagof, 
at the mouth of the TJgaguk 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 esti- 
mated at about 9,200 square miles, which is 2,400 miles more than that of Portlock 
Bank, off Kadiak Island, and some 800 miles more than that of Georges Bank, in the 
North Atlantic Ocean. 
It is doubtful, however, if the limits of this bank should be so restricted, as several 
lines of stations connecting it with Kulukak ground and the region off Cape Peirce 
show the extension in that direction of essentially the same depths of water and char- 
acter of bottom, good fishing also having been obtained at nearly every trial. This 
would make of Bristol Bay in its restricted sense (inside of a line drawn from Cape 
Newenham to Cape Seniavin) a practically continuous fishing ground, except at the 
