George Bank

Abstract

This book provides a rich feast for anyone who has a hunger to learn more about Georges Bank! Its 593 large pages provide articles on a wide variety of scientific and resource management topics. Many human interest features are also included. Among the latter are a photograph demonstrating the only proper way for a seagoing chemist to imbibe, and articles entitled, “My First Trip on Georges Bank,” and “‘Bait Up!’: Dory Fishing on Georges Bank.”Proving that every cloud has a silver lining, interest in producing this book was driven by the climate of controversy that surrounded Georges Bank in the latter 1970s and early 1980s. This was a time when exploratory wells were being driven to search for oil and when disputes between Canada and the United States about jurisdiction over the Bank were reaching their peak. As Backus notes in the Foreword, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Mass., set up a Coastal Research Center in 1979 when “the oil/fish dispute on Georges Bank was hot.” The direct costs of publishing this book were, in turn, supported by the Coastal Research Center.