Since the 19th century Malta depended upon the British Admiralty for charting the Maltese waters. It was in 1976 that the Maltese Hydrographic Unit was established, equipped only with a distance line and leadline. Its main role was to survey potential areas for development and dredging.

Role of the Hydrographic Department Today
Malta made great progress in the maritime sector and is one of the few countries in the Mediterranean region that can boast a complete maritime infrastructure.
The Malta Maritime Authority (MMA) was established in 1992 in an effort to service the existing maritime sector better. Today the Hydrographic Unit forms part of the Marine Department under the responsibility of the Harbour Master, within the Malta Maritime Authority’s Ports Directorate. The Ports Directorate is responsible for the safety of navigation within all ports, harbours and territorial waters.
The Maltese territorial waters are covered by seven charts, which are published by the British Admiralty. The Maltese Hydrographic Unit has the responsibility to keep these charts up to date. The unit is equipped with a 15-metre survey launch, fitted with an Atlas Deso 20 echo sounder. Dynamic positioning is adequately achieved with a Del Norte Trisponder system.
The Maltese Hydrographic Unit is the national coordinator for Navarea III and issues navigational warnings through the Malta Radio Coast Station who in turn promulgate these warnings by Navtex and Navarea broadcasts. By this way any reported hazards will be immediately picked up by vessels navigating in the central Mediterranean, thus ensuring a safer voyage. The Maltese Hydrographic Unit made a large contribution towards supplying hydrographic data for British Admiralty (BA) Chart No 177 of Valletta Harbour, No 36 of Marsaxlokk. For the first time the port of Mgarr Harbour in Gozo will be inserted in BA Chart 195 with data totally supplied by us.
Working in close collaboration with the Mapping Unit of the Planning Authority has made it possible to change the ED50 Datum to WGS84 Datum for BA Chart No 36 and BA Chart No 177. New editions of the Maltese charts will soon be published and these will also be on WGS84 Datum.
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) surveyed the approaches and inshore waters in 1958. Although this was considered adequate at that time, today, they do not meet the IHO requirements. Hence a new survey of our territorial waters needs to be carried out.
The IHO was able to obtain funds from the European Community for a project to enhance hydrography in the Mediterranean. Malta is a partner in this project through which we will be able to get new equipment (positioning, echo sounder post processing software and hardware) and training. The Unit is undergoing discussions with neighboring countries (mainly Italy) to carry out joint hydrographic surveys in our territorial waters. The UKHO carried out a similar operation on a small-scale survey at the approaches to Grand Harbour in 1998.
Malta is also partner in another project funded by the EU and directed by the International Maritime Academy of Trieste Italy, for ‘MEDCHARTNET’ under the EUMEDIS project. This project will establish a Regional (Mediterranean) Network and policy infrastructure, interconnecting Mediterranean Hydrographic Offices and distribution outlets, for the exchange and facilitated dissemination of hydrographic information.