Hydrographic Societies
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Hydrographic Societies

 

Australian Hydrographic Society


Australasian Awards for Hydrography
The patron of the AHS, vice admiral Chris Ritchie, AO, RAN (retd), has been pleased to approve the following awards for 2009:

Corporate Achievement – Training
A. McNeill

Maritime Safety Achievement (Individual)
J. Kunda

Maritime Safety Achievement (Group)
National Maritime Safety Authority
RAN Hydrographic Service – PNG Section
L3-Nautronix – PNG Team

Literary Achievement
W. Richardson

Education Award
M.J. Lindsay

The patron’s and president’s Letter of Appreciation (LoA) awards for government agencies, corporations and individuals will be advised separately. Presentations were made at various events in Australia and New Zealand coinciding with UN World Hydrography Day 2009.
Education Award 2009
The AHS is now accepting applications for the 2009 AHS Education Award ( 8 1) for the application form and further details. The closing date for entries is 10 December 2009.


East Australia Region
UN World Hydrography Day falls on 21 June each year. The date is the anniversary of the founding of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). This fourth year, the broad theme was ‘Hydrography – Protecting the Marine Environment’.

The AHS conducted an event in each of its main regions: East, West and New Zealand.

The East Australia Region (EAR) held a day-long seminar followed by its annual dinner at the Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA) in Sydney on 22 June 2009. The seminar attracted 71 registrants and 84 people attended the annual dinner to witness the presentations of the Society’s annual awards. Diners were also treated to a short after-dinner address by Mike Gallagher, managing director of L-3 Communications Nautronix. Generous financial assistance was provided by Seismic Asia Pacific Pty Ltd, L-3 Communications Nautronix and HSA Systems, and iXSurvey Australia Pty Ltd.

The EAR chose as its theme ‘Taking Stock of the Hydrographic Industry in the Region’.

The Society’s patron, vice admiral Chris Ritchie RAN (retd), welcomed attendees and highlighted the continuing significance of hydrography, the work of the IHO and the increasing demands for hydrography within our own region. Australian hydrographer, commodore Rod Nairn RAN, commenced the first session with a wide-ranging overview of the work of the Australasian Hydrographic Service within the region, as well as its contributions internationally. He was followed by Joseph Kunda, manager of Hydrographic Services at the Papua New Guinea National Maritime Safety Authority. Mr Kunda’s presentation highlighted the issues faced by a country such as Papua New Guinea in providing ongoing hydrographic services. The first session was completed by Simon Allen from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). He outlined the progress to date of an integrated marine observing system.

The second session com-menced with Mark Sinclair of LADS Corporation detailing and demonstrating the efficacy of the LADS system in collecting coastal data for the entire Victorian coastline. After lunch, Venessa O’Connell conducted a session focussed on hydrographic education. Commander Matthew Houston, for instance, described the specific conduct by the Royal Australian Navy of the Category B hydrographic course at HMAS Penguin. The course has recently been re-recognised by the FIG/IHO/ICA International Board and now makes places available to civilian students when space permits.

The final session commenced with a presentation by Australian salvage master Ian Lockley and hydrographic surveyor Daniel Fitzhenry. Ian showed a movie of the salvage he conducted of theAnro Asia, which ran aground at Caloundra while entering Moreton Bay and Brisbane in 1982 due principally to a navigation error. She was successfully refloated by Ian’s team. Allen Hundley of Geosonics presented an overview of techniques for sonar-based sediment and habitat classification and the concluding presentation was by Scott Peak on behalf of Jason Errey of Demco Surveys. Scott’s presentation was on marine resistivity and the capabilities of the Aquares System, the recent subject of an article in Hydro International.

Presentations will be made available for downloading from the AHS website (website 1).

Networking continued into the early evening in the foyer area over drinks and nibbles. The vibes were most positive about the day, with promises by the organiser to do it all again next year. The AHS EAR Annual Dinner was conducted in the gloriously decorated Macquarie Room of the RACA. Following a short address from the president of the AHS, Paul Hornsby, AHS Certificates of Appreciation to the sponsors were presented. Patron vice admiral Ritchie presented the AHS Awards.


New Zealand Region

The New Zealand Region celebrated World Hydrography Day at the Royal New Zealand Navy base in Devonport (Auckland), with 55 attending the day seminar. Nine papers were presented, ranging from AIS, pilot systems, geoid use, moored ship modelling, to Papua New Guinea navigation aid refurbishment. Dinner followed the AGM and was held at the Mecca, where members reviewed the last year and prospects for the next. Lieutenant commander David Crossman was elected chairman for the region.


Tuesday and Wednesday saw 11 hydrographers convene for a Trimble Hydro Pro workshop at Geo Systems in Albany with a visit to the Ferguson Container Terminal. Hydrographers observed ‘Mudcrete’ being mixed and laid in a reclamation (channel dredging material that is mixed with cement to create a weak but stable fill material).

Hydrographic Society Benelux

The theme of World Hydrography Day 2009 (WHD) was ‘Hydrography – Protecting the Marine Environment’. For this reason, the HSB chose some environmental topics for the workshop on Friday 19 June. This workshop was hosted by the Hydrographic Office and was opened by the chief hydrographer of the Netherlands, captain de Haan. He commemorated WHD and the international community of hydrographers. Hydrographer and hydrographic organisations should stand hand in hand to face the challenges ahead.
The rest of the programme consisted of four very interesting presentations about the marine environment.


Kees Camphuijsen from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) talked about the spreading of harbour porpoises in the North Sea. On the Dutch coast in the 1960s, the harbour porpoise had almost disappeared, but a remarkable revival of the number of counted porpoises occurred from 1995 to 2005, with a peak in 2006. Now, the number of porpoises on the Dutch coast is decreasing. From comparison with international numbers it seems that it is not the number of animals that has changed, but rather the part of the North Sea in which they live. Systematic research on the spreading of harbour porpoises is warranted.

The second presentation covered one of the projects related to the extension of Rotterdam Harbour by the Second Maasvlakte. This large infrastructural project will enlarge the harbour by an area of 750 ha. In accordance with European rules, the disappearance of a large sea area should be compensated by environmental measures. Mennobart Van Eerden from Rijkswaterstaat gave an overview of the compensation measures and of the programme that will be done to monitor the results. Two projects were discussed in more detail. In the ‘Voordelta’, fishing using large trawlers is prohibited and for some areas all access is forbidden. The second project is the creation of a new dune area between Rotterdam and the Hague.


Water quality monitoring and remote sensing in this area was presented by Steef Peters of the Vrije University of Amsterdam. Using the MERIS detector on the Envisat satellite, the reflection spectrum of the sea can be measured. With an inversion algorithm it is possible to detect quantitative measures for, amongst others, phytoplankton and suspended matter – important indicators of water quality. An online service is in place as an early warning system for algae bloom.

Finally, quite a different environmental topic was presented that is gaining importance: underwater sound. Niels Kinneging from Rijkswaterstaat gave an overview of the background and the current research questions on this topic. The amount of human activity on the seas and the North Sea in particular is increasing rapidly: shipping, oil and gas exploration and production, wind farms and fishery, to name just a few of the activities. All these activities produce sound and it is known that this has an impact on sea mammals and fish. Nevertheless, very little is known about the exact relation between sound exposure and sea life. In the coming years, much research has to be done and the driving force for this is the new European rules from the Marine Framework Directive.

The workshop was closed by the chairman of the HSB, Leeke van der Poel. He and the chief hydrographer made a toast to World Hydrography Day 2009.

Hydrographic Society of South Africa

The preparations of HYDRO9, which will be held from 10 to 12 November 2009, in Cape Town (South Africa), are well underway. Due to demand, the size of the exhibition area has been increased. Would-be exhibitors are encouraged to take advantage of these additional booths as soon as possible, as over 90% is already fully booked.

The deadline for abstracts was postponed to 31 July 2009.

The organisation is pleased to announce the following keynote speakers: captain Robert Ward (IHB), captain Abri Kampfer (hydrographer SAN), and captain Andy Armstrong (NOAA).

For those who would like to attend pre- and post-conference workshops, the organisation is pleased to announce that IVS and HYPACK will be running workshops on Monday 9 November as well as Friday 13 November.

The traditional HYDRO Golf Tournament will be held on Monday 9 November. This is guaranteed to be a fun-filled day with some great prizes!

Delegates are encouraged to book their flights and accommodation early, as the approaching summer period in Cape Town will make it more difficult to make arrangements.

Fugro, Swathe Services, 7 Sea Geosciences, Kongsberg, QPS and HYPACK will sponsor the event. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Companies that would like to get involved in this, the first African Hydro, are encouraged to contact the Organising Committee [email protected].

There still are some boats available for charter for equipment demonstrations. Please contact the Organising Committee for details of vessel specifications and costs.

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