Australasian Hydrographic Society

News
New Zealand Region
It has been confirmed that the NZ Region Annual General Meeting & Seminar will be held in conjunction with the LINZ Hydrographic Users' Group at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Wellington, Australia on 18th November 2004. The programme will commence with seminar subjects (TBA) at 09:00hrs with the AGM as from 17:30hrs, to be followed by an informal dinner at 19:00hrs. One of the principal speakers and discussion leaders will be John Marshall from MSA, who will speak on the New Zealand Ports & Harbour Marine Safety Code.

HSA Systems has recently been awarded a contract by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to provide Zone of Confidence (ZOC) assessments based on the IHO S57 CATZOC criteria for all the hydrographic surveys used in the compilation of New Zealand's nautical charts. The 18-month contract will include the employment of hydrographic survey personnel from Discovery Marine Limited, who will undertake a review of 134 nautical charts and approximately 2,000 hydrographic surveys.

National Standards for Hydrographic Information in Australian Ports
These national Standards have been prepared by the Hydrographic Surveyors Working Group of the Association of Australian Port and Marine Authorities (AAPMA). The Standards are intended for use in ports and supplement the IHO Special Publication S44 (Standards for Hydrographic Survey). These Standards deliberately do not describe the process that should be followed to ensure the required standard of information is obtained and subsequently maintained. The Standards are primarily intended for, but not limited to, use in Australian ports where shipping regularly or on occasions operates with restrictions on Under Keel Clearance (UKC). These Standards are targeted at the provision of hydrographic data that is used as input in a port’s UKC formula.
This document has been developed in two parts:

1. Part 1: the ‘National Standards for Hydrographic Information in Ports’ contains consistent and common criteria for the conduct of surveys in Australian ports. It has been designed to ensure that all relevant port authorities select the survey class, frequency and personnel required to ensure that the port’s ‘declared depth’ provides confidence for port operations, and can be utilised in the port’s UKC formula. It does not set out how or what technologies should be used to achieve the required standard
   
2. Part 2: this section discusses the critical steps that need to be considered when planning, carrying out, appraising and presenting the survey. Although there are many considerations taken into account in carrying out any survey, the technologies and frequency of survey will be unique to each port. Part 2 provides guidelines and where considered necessary recommended procedures to carry out tasks. It is a summation of the aspects that might need to be addressed to ensure that the supplied information meets the required standard. As such it relies on the professional expertise of the hydrographic surveyor to select the level and type of technology required. It does not attempt to provide a step-by-step manual on how to carry out a particular survey.

The Guidelines are currently being finalised and a more detailed report on these documents will made when that has been completed.

Contact
Australasian Hydrographic Society
Att. E.R. Whitmore
4/6 Carrington Street
Wahroonga, New South Wales
2076
Australia
Tel: +61 2 94892091
Fax: +61 2 94892048