150 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
occasional detentions in port, moreover, afforded excellent opportunities for studying 
the inshore fishery resources and the fishery methods of the region, respecting both 
of which subjects important information was obtained. 
The five banks whose positions were indicated by older surveys, namely, David- 
son, Sannak, Shnmagin, Albatross, and Portlock Banks, were more thoroughly exam- 
ined than were the intervening areas, some of which, however, may, upon further 
examination, prove to contain fishing-banks of equal value, and not inferior in size to 
at least the smaller of those mentioned. Good fishing was obtained at nearly all 
localities where trials were made with hand lines, whether upon defined banks or upon 
the more level grounds between them, and it is natural to infer that the entire sub- 
merged plateau from off Unalaska Island to Fairweather ground is one immense 
fishing- ground, limited upon the outer side only by the abrupt slope, which may be 
said to begin about the 100-fathom curve. Equally good fishing can not be expected to 
exist in all parts of this area, some places being more favorable for the feeding and 
spawning of the cod and halibut than others, and as a rule the larger fish have to be 
sought for in deeper waters. This important tract can best be compared with the suc- 
cession of well-known banks which skirt the southern border of the British Provinces 
on the eastern coast of North America from the Gulf of Maine to beyond Newfound- 
land, but its total area is much less. If considered as a single and continuous bank, 
however, it has more than twice the area of the fishing-grounds of Bering Sea, previ- 
ously described in this paper. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FISHING-GROUNDS. 
Vicinity of Unalaska . — One line of soundings was made in approaching Kiliuliuk 
Bay from the south, and another from the same bay in a southeasterly direction to 
the 100-fathom curve, which was traced eastward to Davidson Bank. A third line 
was also carried eastward along the inner edge of the plateau, from the entrance to 
Akutan Pass. These soundings were not sufficient to demonstrate the existence of a 
defined bank in this region, but it was estimated that an area of about 2,000 square 
geographical miles to the westward of Davidson Bank was suitable for fishing. The 
width of the plateau here varies from 15 to 24 miles inside of the 100-fathom curve. 
Beyond this line the bottom drops off very suddenly here as elsewhere along this part 
of the Alaskan coast, a depth of 1,961 fathoms being found within 34 miles of Unalaska. 
Davidson Bank . — This bank was discovered over twenty years ago by Prof. George 
Davidson, of the IT. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, who made a number of soundings 
upon it in depths of about 50 fathoms, and found cod abundant in some places. Its 
outline and surface contour were established by the Albatross with considerable 
accuracy. The bank lies south of Unimak Island, and extends westward from the 
neighborhood of the Sannak Islands to about the longitude of the southern entrance 
to Unimak Pass (about longitude 164° 40' W.). Its eastern end is continuous with the 
shoal water surrounding the Sannak Islands; its area was estimated at about 1,600 
square miles. The greatest width of the submerged plateau off Unimak Island is 45 
to 50 miles. Depths less than 50 fathoms were found over a large part of the bank, 
41 fathoms being the shoalest water discovered. Between the shallow area and the 
islands to the north and northwest of it, deptlis of 50 to 72 fathoms occur. 
Sannak Bank . — The shoal water at the eastern end of Davidson Bank was traced 
some distance eastward along the southern edge of the Sannak Islands, and between 
