Coral Reef May Be Named After Late MMA Professor
A reef of northern coral between Gibbs Narrows and Little Buttermilk Bay may be officially named after the late Massachusetts Maritime Academy professor and oceanographer who discovered it while conducting research with his students.
Academy officials have put forth a formal proposal to the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN) requesting that the unique 2.5-acre reef of northern coral be named after the late Gary Jaroslow, a professor at the academy for five years before his death in 2017.
According to the proposal submitted to the federal agency in October 2022 by academy professor William Hubbard, Dr. Jaroslow and his students discovered the reef off the tip of Lewis Point in the months before his death. The students, the proposal says, wish to name the feature after the late professor in commemoration of the impact he left behind as both a teacher and researcher.
Dr. Jaroslow was a Springfield native living in Falmouth at the time of his death, which came after a year-long struggle with brain cancer. He earned his doctorate in oceanography from the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program and worked at Sea Education Association for 12 years, first as a faculty member and later as associate dean. During his career, he served as chief scientist on more than 20 sailing research cruises in the Atlantic and Pacific. Dr. Jaroslow became a professor of marine geology at the academy in 2012 and maintained a presence in the classroom throughout his battle with cancer.
The Bourne Select Board recently received a request from Matt O’Donnell, a research assistant at BGN, asking for the board’s recommendation. In two emails, one from February and another in May, Mr. O’Donnell explained the proposal, noting that its proponents determined that the reef should be named because it is shallow and presents navigational hazards.
The board voted unanimously with no discussion to support the naming of Jaroslow Reef at its June 7 meeting. Mr. O’Donnell sent the same requests to Barnstable County Administrator Elizabeth Albert, asking for a response by July 27. No opposition to the proposal has been identified so far in the naming process.
In his letter to the select board, Mr. O’Donnell explains that the BGN contacts local elected authorities for a recommendation on proposals it receives rather than soliciting public input from all local landowners. It does so, he wrote, trusting that the local officials “represent the views of those who elected them.”
The reef in question is said to be a unique structure that is “seldom found in New England waters” and made up of northern coral, (Astrangia poculata). The proposal says that to date, there are no other identified shallow water concentrations of this northern coral in Massachusetts. Dr. Hubbard and academy faculty have coordinated with the state and academic sources, it says, and all agree that the ecological feature in question is a “highly unique one.”
The BGN is a federal agency charged with standardizing geographic names throughout the federal government and votes on proposals after getting recommendations from local, state, federal and tribal stakeholders. The process, according to its website, takes at least six months
According to the agency’s policies, the most important part of vetting a proposal is local use and acceptance. Additionally, unnamed natural features cannot be named for a living person; potential honorees must have been dead for at least five years at the time of the proposal and have made notable contributions and/or have a direct association with the feature.