24 January 2019
St Helena Government and St Helena Tourism have today launched a competition for Islanders to name the seamount that was mapped in St Helena waters by the research vessel the James Clark Ross in 2018.
The competition is open between 24 January and 4 February 2019 and to enter all you need to do is tell us what the seamount should be named and why. Entries will be judged by a select panel and the winner will receive a tour of the Discovery vessel when she arrives at St Helena in April 2019.
Governor Lisa Honan said:
“I encourage everyone to let their imagination take over and think of the best name for this newly-mapped seamount. Just think…the name will exist for thousands of years to come on all the official maps of St Helena and you could be the person to put that seamount on the map…quite literally!”
Martin Collins from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (CEFAs) added:
“St Helena’s marine environment is very special and this is a unique opportunity to propose a name for one of the seamounts in the local area. The seamounts are amazing places, with high productivity and biodiversity and I look forward to hearing some excellent suggestions for the name.”
Specific guidelines for naming a seamount are detailed below:
- Short and simple specific terms are preferable
- The principal concern in naming is to provide effective, conveniently usable, and appropriate reference; commemoration of persons or ships is a secondary consideration
- The first choice of a specific term, where feasible, should be one associated with a geographical feature e.g. Aleutian Ridge, Mariana Trench, Barrow Canyon
- Other choices for specific terms can commemorate ships or other vehicles, expeditions or scientific institutes involved in the discovering and/or delineation of the feature, or to honour the memory of famous persons. Where a ship name is used, it should be that of the discovering ship, or if that has been previously used for a similar feature, it should be the name of the ship verifying the feature e.g. San Pablo Seamount, Atlantis II Seamounts
- Names of living persons will normally not be accepted, in accordance with the recommendation in the UNCSGN Resolution VIII/2. In the rare cases where names of living persons are used (surnames are preferable), they will be limited to those who have made an outstanding or fundamental contribution to ocean sciences
- Groups of like features may be named collectively for specific categories of historical persons, mythical features, stars, constellations, fish, birds, animals, etc
Look out for adverts in the local newspapers where you will find a ‘cut out’ slip to submit your entries to the Tourist Office by Monday, 4 February.
The winner will be announced on Monday, 11 February 2019.
#StHelena #StHelenaTourism #NameThatSeamount #JamesClarkRoss #Discovery
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SHG
24 January 2019