Geographic Board to name undersea features of the Continental Shelf

The New Zealand Geographic Board’s place-naming role is to be widened to include undersea features of New Zealand’s continental shelf, such as submarine volcanoes and canyons, the government announced today.

Changes to the board’s functions announced today also formalise in law the board’s long involvement in the naming of places in Antarctica, Minister for Land Information David Parker said.

“The official naming of features in these areas is becoming increasingly important for New Zealand given the intensive research and exploration that is occurring there,” David Parker said.

“Through the process of naming we ensure that geographic features reflect who we are as a nation. Knowing the correct names for places and their location is also important for people in all manner of everyday communications and activities, for businesses in their transactions and for emergency services in responding to incidents.”

The changes announced today are included in the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngâ Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. Its introduction followed public consultation on the 61-year-old New Zealand Geographic Board Act of 1946.

The assigning and altering of official names of suburbs and localities will be devolved to local government in future but until then the board will keep its current responsibility for these names. The public will also be given a new opportunity to comment on proposed names for Crown protected areas managed by the Department of Conservation.

A new board function will be to publish and maintain an online gazetteer of official geographic names containing location and historic information for the names.