The Banks west of the Faroes

From about 1860 onwards, scattered information on shoals and banks between the Faroes and Rockall was gradually accumulated, mostly from fishermen. More systematic surveys were carried through after the 1st World War, and the series of banks with increasing depth over the top from east to west were accurately mapped: The Faroe Bank (90 m), Bill Baileys Bank ( 150 m), Lousy Bank (Outer Bill Bailey)(280 m), George Bligh Bank (440 m), and Hatton Bank (520 m) (Heinesen 1992, Pawsey & Davis 1924, Ulrich 1964). Although small in area, the upper part of the banks (within the 200 m depth contour) inside the Faroese EEZ are important for commercial fisheries, viz. The Faroe Bank comprising 4150 sqkm and Bill Baileys Bank, with 1350 sqkm (Magnussen 2002, Vedel Tåning 1943). Some of the early, foreign expeditions took a few samples in the bank area, "Knight Errant", "Lightning", "Michael Sars", and "Triton" (Tendal & Bruntse 2001). Over time Danish survey and fishery investigation vessels also brought back some samples that eventually reached the Zoological Museum. Many of these were included in contributions to "The Zoology of the Faroes", but only Høpner Petersen (1968) gave a separate species list for the Faroe Bank. He mentioned 29 species of bivalves, of which 26 were also found on the Faroese plateau. In the light of the seamount-like character of the banks and their importance to the Faroese fisheries the incomplete knowledge of their benthos represents an obvious challenge to a project such as BIOFAR.