The Hydrography and Navigation Directorate (DHN) administers and provides services in hydrographic surveys, navigation assistance, oceanography, ocean currents, publication and control of notices to mariners, nautical charts, marine meteorology and forecasting, astronomy and time signals. This in done for the Navy, the aquatic community, and other national and international users, relying on the skills of the authority's employees and on the use of state-of-the-art technology. The mission of the DHN is to guarantee safety of navigation in the aquatic environment and to contribute to the fulfilment of Navy missions.

The use of information technologies and the incorporation of hydrographic ships has brought new facilities to the organisation. Today, DHN's ships gather their information in digital format, the data is analysed and nautical electronic charts are produced and validated on a global scale, and they use satellite information for their positioning. Meteorological phenomena are monitored with enough accuracy to advance the aquatic community. A network of marine signals matching the needs of the country are constructed and supported by the DHN and they publish notices to mariners of Venezuela with a precision of 1 second of error every 1.3 million years. The DHN is being decentralised by providing three hydrographic stations located along the Venezuelan coast, and they are commissioned with large strategic lighthouses. The DHN maintains a permanent presence on Isla de Aves (Island of Birds) and they spread the importance of astronomy through the Humboldt Planetarium.

An important gain is the design and implementation of a medium-term strategic plan for 2000-2010. Part of the plan is designing a governmental instrument to facilitate the joint activities of the Coordinating Office of Hydrography and Navigation (OCHINA) and the DHN. The strategic OCHINA-DHN plan for 2000-2010 serves as a guide to the development of the National System of Marine Aids to Navigation (SINSEMA) and the establishment of other navigational aids. OCHINA is the entity in charge of collecting and administrating incoming fees for services related to navigational aids in Venezuela, according to the Venezuelan Law of Lighthouses and Buoys. The DHN is the executive entity of projects and field surveys; fulfilling the targets of the service of hydrography, oceanography, meteorology and nautical cartography, and their qualification through SINSEMA. Another part of the strategic plan emphasises that the hydrographic stations can provide a more agile response to local requests, as well as nautical electronic charts and the continued modernisation of the marine signalling system.

In 2008, a new project was launched to implement the System of Oceanographic Monitoring of the Caribbean and Atlantic Venezuelan Coastline. The project consists of four interconnected webs of information: (1) the METOCEAN web, with 14 oceanographic buoys along the Venezuelan coastline; (2) a web of stations, consisting of 12 locations, three coastal areas and eight islands, where measurements of oceanographic parameters are periodically taken; (3) itinerant stations, consisting of 200 insertion points for oceanographic monitoring, of which 124 annually measure physical and chemical parameters; and (4) a web of meteorological stations, consisting of nine stations to capture marine meteorological data. Together, these buoys and stations obtain information related to the DHN's scientific projects in oceanography, marine life and conservation, environmental status monitoring and virtual sounding of the oceanic floor of the Caribbean Sea, and, of course, they are also a helpful tool with which to contribute to navigational aids.

E-mail: dhnj...@armada.mil.ve