Hydrographic Society Benelux

News
The third Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Hydrographic Society Benelux (HSB) took place on 13 February at Delft University of Technology. A workshop was held prior to the meeting, under the title ‘As it Was’, a report of which will be published in the May issue of Hydro International. The presentations may also be downloaded from the HSB web-site at www.hydrographicsociety.nl. This report and the minutes can also be found on the web-site.
In total, 31 individuals and twelve corporate members attended the AGM. The Minutes of AGM 2003, as published in Hydro international (April issue), were accepted without amendments. The annual report of the chairman and secretary was presented and accepted by the AGM. The annual report of the treasurer was presented and clarified by Rob van Ree. The meeting accepted the new style of the report, as proposed at AGM 2002. The AGM accepted the proposal to decrease membership contributions. These have now been realigned: corporate members, €375, individual members, €45 and retired members, €22,50. The contribution of the Associate Corp. membership remains unchanged at €200.

Finances
The financial auditing committee of Cor Don and Rob Karis reported having inspected all accounts over 2003 and found them to be in order. The AGM discharged the treasurer for the year 2003. The members of the financial auditing committee of 2004 will be Cor Don and Sjoerd van den Brom.
Since the AGM of 2003, Cor Don and Hessel Bakker have reviewed the HSB General Covenant. Their suggestions have resulted in a new version, presented on the web-site since August 2003. The AGM accepted the HSB General Covenant in the present version.
The annual report of the Educational Fund (EF) was presented and accepted by the meeting. Committee chairman Johan Stam proposed visiting secondary schools to promote the hydrographic profession and to stimulate new students to enter hydrographic vocational education.

Web-site Hits
Ellen Stuifbergen reviewed 2003 web-site hits: 73 per cent were Dutch, 3 per cent Belgium, 21 per cent American and the rest other nationalities. The main purpose of the site is to communicate with the members, but because of the number of foreign visitors it might be an option to make the site bilingual; the financial aspect of this will be looked into. Access to download will be improved. Already it is possible to join the HSB through the web-site and to register online for workshops; the web-site will be further developed to simplify or take over secretearial tasks.
THS Proposal
The THS proposal to establish an International Federation of Hydrographic Societies resulted in a complex document, due to the need to ensure continuation of charity status. Items to be discussed included the financial statements of THS 2003, which showed bigger expenses than estimated. The board had been unable to oversee the (financial) consequences of the proposal. One alternative to the current proposal is an organisational structure similar to the International Association of Institutes for Navigation. Honorary member Jan Kreffer stressed the value of continuing international co-operation. The AGM voted against the proposal by 44 votes to five (ten by proxy votes). However, the vote was 37 to two for continuing attempts to establish and join an IFHS with a simple structure. Members Roelf van Dam and Peter Boon offered to support the Board with ideas and active help to develop a practicable way of co-operating within an international framework.

New Members
Further to the retirement of two members of the Board, Sjoerd van den Brom and Carlos Vernemmen, two new Board members were elected. This resulted in the following Board for the year 2004: Rob Luijnenburg (chairman), Rob van Ree (treasurer), Tanja Heringa (secretary), Cor Beemster, Jan van den Berg, Stijn Claeys, Floris Siteur, Ellen Stuifbergen, Wim van Wieren (executive members). Nobody wished to use the subsequent opportunity to put forward questions or any other business; the chairman thanked all attendees and invited everybody for a drink.

Agenda
16th April 2004: Corporate workshop Noordhoek Offshore bv. Zierikzee

18 th June 2004: Ecology, Environment and Hydrography, Antwerp

8th September 2004: Corporate workshop Simrad bv. Rotterdam

15th October 2004: Airborne survey, Delft

10th December 2004: Oceanography, Delft

Contact
Att. T.H. Heringa
Postbus 175
1970 AD IJmuiden
The Netherlands
T: +31 255 545 622
F: +31 255 545 645
E: [email protected]
W: www.hydrographicsociety.nl