discovered
p. 51 · Read in the full issue
Seamount discovered
ANEW seamount or undersea mountain was located east of Niulakita island in the Tuvalu waters by a Japanese geological survey ship. Information about the seamount was passed to the Tuvalu Fisheries Division by the regional geological sur vey organisation, the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission
(Sopac)
Seamount are of potential economic
interest, because they may be rich in minerals as well as in precious deep water pink coral, and valuable deep water fish such as the deep sea snappers.
SOPAC has provided Tuvalu with a detailed three dimensional map of the new seamount drawn by computer.
The Japanese ship also surveyed
several other seamounts in the Niulakita area, and discovered that a second seamount south of Niulakita is substan
tially larger than was previously thought.
Tuvalu’s Principal Fisheries Officer, Tim Gentle, says the new information is valuable, since the Fisheries Division is about to start a major survey for deep water snappers in Tuvalu waters. □