Τοπωνυμικό Λεξικό Θαλάσσιων Γεωγραφικών Ονομάτων της Κύπρου

12 Methodology for the Collection of Sea Geographical Names For the collection of sea geographical names, the following procedure was followed: In the initial stage, theDepartment of LandsandSurveys (DLS) collectedall availabledata fromexistingofficial hydrographical maps series “one inch to one mile”, and from official cadastral plans, and stored all information in a database. In a second stage, a survey team undertook the investigation of sea names, in contact with the local municipal or community authorities, when it worked in coastal areas. The team had available for their use all existing data, to better enable and simplify the investigation. Unfortunately, the results were not as originally expected, as no significant number of sea names was added. In a third stage, the issue was examined by the National Hydrographic Committee (NHC). At this stage, it was investigated whether geographical names existed in coastal and near coastal areas, and which of it’s members could contribute to the collection of information. It was realized that the Ports Police could help in the collection of data. The Ports Police established a team of representatives coming from each district, with whom the DLS representative officer came in contact for the collection of data. For the investigation, the DLS representative officer was visiting the Ports Police office in each district, where they had meetings. In the meetings, among others, local fishermen were present, who were pointing out on maps the geographical names they were using themselves or their colleagues. In this way, the sea names of the southern part of Cyprus were collected. It’s worth noting that many sea names were cross checked by fishermen of other districts that existed in overlapping use areas. The data that were collected were stored in a digital Database (DB). During the presentation of the results of the research to the NHC, the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research (DFMR) proposed to help in the extension of the research in the northern areas of Cyprus. Specifically, they proposed to provide DLS with the contact details of fishermen that worked in the northern areas in the past. DLS collected all additional information and also repeated the same work in the southern areas, in order to cross check all available information. A portable computer was used for this purpose, and the collected data was stored directly in a thematic layer of the database. As background information, all available layers of existing satellite images were used to better facilitate fishermen. At this stage, local meetings were contacted with the fishermen in their residential areas. In the northern areas many fishermen validated the collected information. The sea names include greek, turkish and other names. Tha names were recorded, and standardized in the Greek Language, and then they were transliterated into the roman alphabet based on ELOT 743. The results of the research were stored in the database and were classified into the following categories: Akrotiri - Cape: A part of the land going into the sea. It is usually called “kavos” by local people. Akro - Point: The edge of a cape or a small cape. Kolpos - Bay: A wide cavity of land that provides protection from weather. Ormos - Kolpiskos - Cove: A small bay having a narrow entrance from a bay. It is usually called “vala” by local people. Richo - Shoal: The lifting of the sea bed in areas that are not expected to be as such in accordance to the general morphology of sea bed. The lifting is usually around 20 meters under sea, or less. It is not a rock or coral formation, and it is dangerous for navigation. Yfalos - Reef: A rock projection coming from the sea bed which is under the water surface, which is dangerous for navigation. It is usually called “ksera”, or “pagkos”, by local people. Exalos - Skopelos - Rock: A rock coming above the sea water surface, which is dangerous for navigation. In most times, it is a rock which, based on tide phase and weather conditions and waves, it is covered by sea water. Nisi - Island: Land that is surrounded by sea. In this case, land is not covered by water affected by weather or tide. Thalassio Toponimio - Sea name: A name that was given to a sea area. Thalassa - Pelagos - Sea: A name of an open sea area. The classification of toponyms was done, based on each name, or as indicated by the fishermen. Many of the toponyms are similar to the toponyms used in land areas. In the maps that were prepared as a part of this project, the toponyms that prove the relation with land, are also given.