Australasian Hydrographic Society

News
Gentlemen, it has been reported from New Zealand that the offshore work with regard to the project to define their Continental Shelf is now virtually complete and that Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) can now forge ahead with the necessary reports and information displays to the appropriate government ministry. It is the aim of LINZ to enable their government to be able to submit a Continental Shelf claim to the United Nations by 2006. Many readers will appreciate that the offshore work will in many instances have been far from pleasant or comfortable, as the whole of the South Island lies below 40° South in the ‘Roaring Forties’, whilst the New Zealand and Campbell Plateaux lie well into the ‘Fifties’. One very interesting aspect of the offshore work was the rock dredging carried out by R.V Sonne, sometimes in depths of 5,000 metres, in the Colville Ridge area of the Kermadec Islands to the north east of New Zealand. Here searches were made for evidence of continental rock, as opposed to the oceanic rock more to be expected off the Continental Shelf. Such evidence would, of course, greatly strengthen New Zealand's claim on the grounds of natural extension of the landmass. The seismic data, strengthened by rock dredging on the Campbell Plateau, Resolution Ridge, Chatham Rise and Bollons Seamount, have in some areas given strong confirmatory evidence that New Zealand's Continental Shelf extends well beyond the two hundred mile Exclusive Economic Zone. With the adjacency of New Zealand to Australia it is absolutely vital that both countries work together, so that a co-ordinated approach can be achieved with their respective submissions to the United Nations.
Discovery Marine Ltd (DML) report a very high repeatability of results from ongoing monitoring surveys at two power stations and several marinas throughout the North Island of New Zealand, which have led to the calculation of rates of sedimentation to within millimetres. These very accurate data levels are most useful as they enable accurate prediction of future sedimentation trends, rates of accretion and the future programming of dredging requirements.

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