It was first accurately shown on an Argentine government chart of 1957, and was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1959 for Charles C. Bates, an American oceanographer who has specialised in sea ice studies.

[1] A circular 500 ha tract of land and sea, centred on an islet lying about 700 m to the south of Bates, has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of Antarctic shags, with about 150 pairs recorded there in 1986.

[2] This article incorporates public domain material from "Bates Island".

Geographic Names Information System.

This Biscoe Islands location article is a stub.