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Hydrographic services
Hydrographic services Basic charting vital to all sea users
D.W. Haslam
International 80% to
maritime
of all world the
any
economic
country.
trade
trade)
development
Two
thirds
continental
world’s never
been
now
required
vessels,
for
and offshore
exploitation
of
expanded air
All
be
communication the
the
exclusive
hydrographic
coordinated
in parallel
updating
with
potential
zones.
must
have
deep-draught
liners,
connected
economic
sparse
the
to standards
operations
effort
of
of
shelf
surveyed
cruise
(about
is essential
with
and
land
and
systems 19th
by
century
data (on which
most nautical
are still based)
before
more
strandings
and
consequent
Haslam
is Hydrographer
pollution
occur.
Rear Admiral of Old
the
Navy,
War
London
charts serious
Ministry
Office SWl,
Building,
of
Defence, Whitehall,
UK.
We tend to take basic necessities for granted. We turn on a tap and expect clean water to flow. We buy a land map and expect the latest motorways to be shown. It is only when the unexpected happens that we wonder what goes on behind the scenes to produce the expected. All too often, there have been indications of impending failure which we. as individuals, administrative bodies, or even as nations, have not heeded and action to avoid failures or disasters has been taken too late. This is all too true of hydrography. For centuries, mariners have explored the globe to find new countries with new natural resources and to develop trade. Each probe into the unknown has brought back more information about the hidden dangers beneath the surface of the sea. Generations of dedicated hydrographic surveyors of many nations have built up a data bank which is available to international mariners in the form of charts, volumes of sailing directions, and other nautical publications. ‘Put your trust in God and the Admiralty Chart’ became a motto well earned by my predecessors. However. like the water tap, the Admiralty Chart is taken for granted. While the size of vessels remained constant and their routes followed those taken frequently by vessels of similar draughts, mariners could expect to remain safe, but this complacent sense of security is no longer justified. Just because charts are available, showing all the land masses in modern detail, it should not be assumed that they are adequate for all sea users.
Role of hydrography in economic development International trade is essential to economic progress and development, especially to developing countries striving to raise the level of their economies and improve the living standards of their people. Economic development generates a substantial requirement for imports: to finance these it is essential first to exploit and export any national mineral and agricultural resources and, later, to build up an industrial capacity leading to further exports. Initially, such trade will be with countries with longer-established industrial economies: seldom will there be land communications with such countries and maritime trade will be vital, even to most land-locked nations. The
MARINE
POLICY January
1977
3
Upirograpkic services - basic charting vital to ail sea users
world’s mercantile marine still carries some 80% of all international trade by volume, and only slightly less by value. Unlike land transport, marine traffic (and. to an onty slightly lesser extent. air traficf is entirely dependent on good maps or charts. A ship or an aircraft cannot stop to ask pedestrians for directions, nor can they usually see dangers in their paths. While air-traffic control plays a large part in the safe navigation of aircraft, ships have such assistance only when approaching a few major ports. During the past two hundred years, and particufarty in the past two decades when aerial and satellite photography have speeded up the contouring of land-mass areas, very good land maps and air charts have been produced for almost all countries. The need for ships to carry charts adequate for their particular passage is only now being acknowledged and several countries, including the UK, have recently introduced legislation making it compulsory for all ships registered in such countries to carry an adequate outfit of charts. Modern surveys are essential for new cruising routes and when siting new ports or enhancing the facilities of existing ports to handle ships of greater draught. A careful study of modern surveys of alternative sites and approaches can often achieve substantial dredging economies in port operations (eg by minimising requirements). The search for and exploitation of offshore naturai resources are other important aspects of economic development and here again hydragraphic surveys are basic tools for such activities.
Present state of h~d~o~r~ph~~ knowledge
1 A new side-scan sonar, ‘Hydrosearch’, is now being fitted to HM Survey Ship which has a stabilised sonar ‘Bulldog’. array that can be used both vertically and horizontally to give a range and bearing as well as a depression angle to any isolated danger more than 1 m in sire, up to 450m from the ship. Such a system should considerabty speed up the task of locating all isolated objects. It has already been used extensively in fishery research and has great potential also for offshore activities such as surveillance of pipelines and underwater fittings,
4
In order to assess the adequacy of existing nauticaf charts it is advisable to consider what is involved in their production. The most important item shown on any nautical chart is the depth of water (although this must also be shown accurately in relation to land features). Untit comparatively recently, the only way to record depth was to cast a lead weight, on a marked line, until it hit the seabed and to record the depth when the tine was as near vertical as possible. Such casts covered the few square centimetres hit by the lead and ignored any obstructions in the vicinity. Since the mid 193Os, vertical sound waves have been used to record the depth under a survey ship by ‘echo sounding’ but this again only covers a narrow swathe of the seabed and ignores irregularities to either side of the track. In the past two decades, various forms of sonar have been used to indicate obstructions to either side of an echo-sounded track but, if found, such hazards have had to be laboriously investigated by sweeping frequently over the top of them with a wire stretched horizontally at various depths until a clearing depth was found. It can still take up to six hours to focate and ‘height’ each isolated danger such as a wreck or rock.! Since about 7 1% of the earth’s surface is covered by water, the task of the hydrographic surveyor has always been too vast for the available resources. However. by carefully allocating resources to the areas, and by and potentially dangerous most frequented concentrating on areas where depths are Iikefy fo be of critical interest to the deepest-draught ship expected to use the area, the number of casualties due to striking uncharted objects has been kept remarkably low. Fires, collisions, human errors of judgement or navigation, and material breakdowns are still the most common cause of marine
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
HJdrographic
Figure 1. survey
Ship’s
danger
draught
in relation
vital to all sea users
to
IO -
Maximumexpecfed drought Surveydonqer
E
Survey danger line Depths below which full search for and examination of seabed dangers were not considered necessary (ml: 1850-1900 11 1900-l 963 20 Since 1963 31
z s o _I P 6
be
15 zo25-
wreck symbol on charts
Depth above wreck represented Until 1960 < 14.6 1960-1963 < 18.3 1963-1968 <20.1 1968-1976 <27.4
(m):
1850
POLICY
January
1870
1890
1910
1930
1950
1970
1990
Year
* Unfortunately, there have been many strandings recently: for expensive example, SS ‘Igara’ of 133 848 dwt north of the Sunda Sea in March 1973, SS ‘Sir Winston Churchill’ of 95 300 dwt also in the South China Sea in March 1974, SS ‘Antilles’ (then the largest French liner) in the Caribbean in January 197 1, and both the UK cruise liner ‘Carmania’ and the Swedish bulk carrier ‘Ariadne’, of 101 700 dwt, have grounded in the Caribbean. In all cases, inadequate charts of the routes were found to be a major contributing factor. 3 Commodore D.C. Kapoor. International Hydrographic Review, Vol LIII. No 2, July 1976. p 9. 4 ibId, p 1 1 Study ’ Report of the Hydrographic Group. March 1975. The Group was set up by the Ministry of Defence on 17 July 1974 to assess the future UK civil hydrographic requirement. ‘These include areas such as the South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Southern Pacific Islands, Seychelles Bank, much of the East African Coasts, the Red Sea and parts of the Caribbean, as well as many others
MARINE
- basic charting
line.
a Depths below this line were not fully examined at the time of the survey.
Dangerous
setCces
1977
accidents. Nevertheless, as Figure 1 shows, pressure of work has always meant that large parts of all areas surveyed until very recently have been left without full examination below a depth only slightly more than the deepest-draught vessel afloat at the time of the survey.* An analysis3 of the existing poor state of hydrographic knowledge of the ocean depths, made by a director of the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO), indicates that data are available to determine accurately no more than about 16% of the ocean’s seafloor topography and the major seafloor features only of a further 22% of the oceans. In the remaining 62% of the ocean areas, data are too sparse even for a rough estimate of the shape and size of the major seafloor features. Many of the ocean areas, however, are too deep to be of significant interest to surface shipping, but even within the comparatively shallow waters of the continental shelf the areas covered by echosounder at acceptable scale and including modern sonar sweeps are much less than is perhaps generally appreciated. A study made for the UN Economic and Social Council’ shows that, for countries that do not yet have a national hydrographic capability, at least 60% of coastal areas are covered by low-density or incomplete surveys which, in many cases, date back to between the 1830s and about 19 10. An assessment made by the UK Hydrographic Study Group5 showed that of the 146 300 square nautical miles of the UK continental shelf, only 44 500 nautical miles, or 24%, had been so covered as to show the least depth over most wrecks and obstructions, while 72% was still either unsurveyed or surveyed only by hand lead line. Such a situation exists off almost every maritime country and, although very unsatisfactory, this is adequate for the safe navigation of conventional ships operating along traditional routes. However, a quick study of the best charts available shows that there are many cases in which cautions are printed on charts warning even conventional-draught ships to avoid the area or to navigate with extreme caution owing to inadequate survey data.6 Many of these unexplored areas lie some distance offshore and again it must be emphasised that, until very recently, soundings could
5
Hydrographic services - basic charting vital to all sea users
be located accurately only when within sight of easily identified and well positioned land objects. Although frequent use was made of large floating reference beacons anchored in quite shallow water, it was not until the introduction of electronic distance-measuring gear in the mid 1950s that accurate offshore sounding was possible. Even the most experienced navigator, with precise chronometers and ideal weather conditions, can only expect to obtain positions from sextant observations to stars and planets at dusk and dawn, and then with possible errors of up to at least a nautical mile. Observations in daylight hours may be even more in error, due to abnormal refraction and, as a result, ‘reported shoals (position approximate)’ shown on charts may be up to 5 miles or more from their true positions. This results in extra steaming and needless concern for all passing shipping. The introduction of modern satellite navigation systems enables mariners to locate their positions more accurately than could even the iand surveyors when the land features were charted.’ Mariners fortunate enough to have ‘Satnav’ systems should expect to find that the charts available are at least as accurate as their navigational systems and they shoufd not be jeopardised by doubt as to their position relative to charted dangers.
New needs for improved hydrography for navigation
’ Several recent instances are recorded of charted land masses being found to be up to 8 miles in error. 8 Hydrographic Study Group (1975). op cit. Appendix 9.
6
When most of the data on which present charts are based were obtained. trade was carried overland by horse and cart to the ports and thence transported in sailing ships. When steam replaced sail at sea, some additional surveying was needed, but, in general, 19th century surveys were adequate, since the draught of vessels increased only slightly. Contrast the expenditure involved in coping with land and air transportation needs. In most developed and many developing countries, vast networks of roads and even motorways have been provided and air terminals have been constructed to keep pace with changing requirements. A manufacturer wishing to transport a heavy or extra large load expects to be able to buy an updated map showing the available road network without having to pay to have the roads constructed or surveyed. He can contact local transport officials for advice on the bearing capacity of any bridges over which his load may have to pass or the height under any obstructions. An aircraft pilot, too, expects to find on his special aviation chart the height over all natural and man-made obstructions so that, in poor visibility, he does not strike the summit of a mountain or a TV mast. Neither the motorist nor the aviator would accept maps last revised more than 100 years ago. Yet this is what the mariner is expected to do. It has been shown that 22% of the 3265 charts in the worldwide Admiralty series were published before 1900 and that 42% of this series have had no major revision within the last 16 years.* Had the draught of ships remained constant, this might have been acceptable, but Lloyd’s statistics show that whereas there were only three vessels of over 130 000 dwt in 1965 there were 5 I4 vessels larger than 100 000 dwt in 1973. There is some difficulty in forecasting future trends of world shipping, but there is absolutely no doubt that the number of ships with draughts of more than 20m (the depth below which shoals were not fully investigated until the early 1960s) will remain a considerable proportion of the world’s mercantile fleets.
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
Hydrographic services - basic charting vital to all sea users
9 Again, to quote exact it is hard tolerances, but 10% of the draught appears common practice. This implies that for a VLCC with a draught of 20m. it is assumed that all objects standing more than 2m from the general seabed have been accurately located and heighted. If they have not been so charted, then the VLCC is likely to be at risk if navigated along a new track and over a charted seabed 22m deep. ‘O One of the most notorious of these is the Southern North Sea where offshore banks such as the Goodwin Sands, Edinburgh Channels, etc. have claimed many victims over the centuries. ” Hansard, 7 July 1976, Col561. l2 The wreckage of an oil tanker on an inadequately surveyed seabed rock north of the Seychelles in 1970 posed a threat of massive pollution among the islands, whose economy was almost entirely dependent on tourism and inshore fishing. Such a catastrophe was avoided only by the mounting of an expensive dispersal operation and the ingenuity of a Royal Navy clearance diving team in conditions unfit for diving operations. They devised and rapidly executed explosive demolition of the ship’s oil tanks from a helicopter, allowing the 50 000 tons of oil to disperse into the Indian Ocean only a few days before the onset of the monsoons brought onshore winds.
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
These larger ships are required, for economic reasons, to operate with much less underkeel clearance than has previously been accepted.9 The development of deep-draught ships has turned hitherto perfectly navigable waters into shallow seas. They require much more room to manoeuvre than conventional ships and should be free to take action to avoid collisions and tropical storms without fear of moving into unsurveyed waters. There is not much point, furthermore, in dredging a harbour to handle deeper-draught ships if these are liable to run aground several miles offshore on a sandbank or wreck whose position and least depth have not been checked recently. The introduction of new iron-ore ports in Western Australia was postponed until international shipping could be provided with new charts to show that navigation to and from the new berths was safe. There are also many areas of the world in which the seabed itself is unstable and liable to alter as a result of tidal action after periods of strong winds.‘O Such areas must be resurveyed at frequent intervals to ensure the safe passage even of conventional-size ships. Some critical areas must be checked at least once every 12 months, while test lines must be run at least every 5 years in all the major routes between the Humber and Beachy Head, thus occupying a large proportion of the available effort of the littoral states concerned. Within such areas, the numerous wrecks resulting from collisions and other accidents and the devastation of various wars may also move, both in position and attitude. A large wreck may be thought to be lying on its side with a fair clearance over its smooth hull, whereas scouring by strong tides may have caused it to heel over into a scoured hole leaving masts and superstructure projecting dangerously towards the surface. A written answer recently given to a question in the UK House of Commons” indicated that of a total of 14 000 wrecks known to lie on the UK continental shelf, the exact position was not known of more than 11 000 of these, and the least depth was unknown of more than 12 500. This is probably higher than in most other parts of the world owing to the volume of traffic, war casualties, and weather conditions, but there are wrecks off almost all coasts of the world and every maritime country has a responsibility to locate and height these for the benefit of international shipping and the avoidance of further casualties and pollution.‘* All the major hydrographic offices, therefore, are being forced to review the adequacy of their existing data for the sudden increase in draught of all shipping expected to operate through the waters for which they have the responsibility for charting. By no means all maritime countries have their own national capability either to survey their coasts or to produce charts for the benefit of international trade along or to and from their coasts. There are still very many countries in which there is no department of government with any responsibility for hydrography, nor any realisation of the vital importance of hydrographic matters, even for navigational purposes. Perhaps only the stranding of a supertanker off a popular bathing resort will bring home the stark necessity of devoting attention to the matter.
Offshore exploitation Oil and gas have been extracted
from the shallow waters in the Gulf
7
Hydrographic
services - basic charting vital to all sea users
t3The Geographer, US Bureau of intelligence and Research, ‘Theoretical areal allocations of seabed to coastal states’, International Boundary Study Series A: Limits in the Seas, US Bureau of Intelligence and Research, No 46, 12 August 1972. ‘4 For example, the first client may want to know only if it is safe to take a platform drawing 65m and a survey is carried out to prove such a route: depths over 68m would not be fully examined. A second client, with a platform of 70m. would then have to start all over again, particularly if a previous report existed of a wreck near the route with an unknown position and depth.
8
of Mexico, Persian Gulf, Borneo and Trinidad for several years. Recent improvements in technology and the increasing costs of petroleum products generally have enabled profitable extraction from much deeper depths and in much more exposed areas. Exploration is now taking place off many hitherto most unlikely areas and much has been made of the economic prospects of the North Sea and other exploitation areas. Much of this exploration has been financed by the private sector on an ad hoc basis in advance of national geophysical and geological studies with the result that the international oil companies are often in possession of much more data than the national authorities with whom they subsequently have to negotiate licences. Should the current UN Law of the Sea Conference (UNCLOS) reach agreement as to the extent and nature of any exclusive economic zones,’ many maritime states will expect to acquire rights over considerable sea areas. In many cases, these maritime regions will exceed by a large amount the previous land areas of the maritime states. Some idea of the effects on coastal states of the various limits considered by UNCLOS is given in an analysis by the US Bureau of Intelligence and Research. I3 This suggests that the 118 coastal states considered would receive about 6 298 800 square nautical miles if the 200m depth limit were accepted, about 8 578 800 square nautical miles if a 40 nautical mile zone were accepted. or about 24 632 400 square nautical miles of continental shelf and adjacent seabed if a 200 nautical mile limit were accepted. The effects on some maritime states are given in Table I. About two thirds of this vast area is, as yet, unsurveyed. With the rights to exploit must go the responsibility to survey, not only for maritime safety but also because of economic necessity. In all cases, it is important that the state should acquire, as early as possible, a comprehensive bathymetric, geophysical and geological survey of its offshore zone. It is important, too, that such a survey should be coordinated by the state to ensure that all work is carried out to the same standards and using the same vertical and horizontal datum points and to avoid wasteful duplication of effort. There is a very real difference. which is too often overlooked, between a comprehensive survey carried out for charting or navigational purposes and one carried out for the specific purpose of a single client. In the former, full information must be obtained about all parameters and agreement must be reached with adjacent surveys, while information held from earlier reports must be definitely proved or disproved so that any future queries can be answered. For a particular client, data are only collected to answer his specific problems, which may well not be so exacting as those of the next client. who must then pay to have the whole area re-covered to meet his needs.i4 The needs of offshore operators to tow unwieldy units such as concrete production platforms (costing over &65M and with draughts of over 65m) were not envisaged when even quite recent surveys were undertaken and it is manifestly unreasonable to expect owners or insurers to have such expensive units manoeuvred from their shore construction sites to the eventual production site without adequate knowledge of the safety of the selected routes. Charts should be nationally available to enable such routes to be selected. This should also be the case in the selection of the route along which to lay a
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
Country USAij Australiaa lndonesiaa New Eeatartcf” Canadaa USSR Jape? Brazil’ f&%ico C&sea NorllV*ya
a Member $tatw of IHO. Source: The Geographer, US Bureau af lnteiiigence and Research, ‘Theoreticat areai aiiocations of seabed to coastal SteteS’. ~~~~~~~~~o~~~ ~~~~~~r~ Studr Series A: Limits in the Seas. US Bureau of intelligence and Research, Na 46, 12 August 1972, and IHO Yearbook1976, International Hydragraphic Organlsation, 107R
tnd@ Philippine? Portugale Mal agagy Rep Spaina Mauritius Argentine’ Ecuadora Fiji South Africa” Chine Maldives tlKa Icetanda Peru Somalia Sri Lanka Malaytiaa Ireland Venezuelda
m3aa Libya Jamaica tiberia Tanzania Ghana Saudi Arabia
200 m
40 nautical
200 nautical
No of survey
zone
mile zone
mile zone
ships over 225 tans
545 4aa 663 600 8QS 600
?31300 4~66~ f 0% 100 746400 963000
2 222 OOQ 20433= 1 57-z 300 f 409 500 1 370 000 1 309 500 1 126000 924 000 831 500 667 3ao 590 500 587 600 551 400 517 400 376 800 355 600 345 OQO 339 500 338 000 330 900 296 500 281 000 279 700 274 800 252 800 229 4QO 228 300 150 900
70800 846600 3643130 140 100 224 100 128 4#Q 8000 30 000 131 800 52 000 114ciO 52 600 49 700 26700 232 200 t3 700 sao 41 800 230 ‘I00 3 000 143 500 39 a00 24 ?O# 17 700 7 80(5 108 900 36 700 25 7QO 23 3oa 24 400 Ii 700 6 700 121300 6 100 22 100
a57 200 180 100
189700 236 100 f550011 178L100
176300 230200 60600 77300 126 000 30 400
77200 97oMf 74600 57 000 138500 64 100 5 04900 57500 66200 64200 45300 66600 27 500 56300 91900 38fOO 26900 12300 23 600 12 700 43 800
18 3 3 f 9 54 4 a 1 2 2
3 5 3 6 3 I 1 Not known
138700 110900 106 100 105 800 98 600 86 800 67 000 65100 63 600 54 300
submerged pipeline to bring the oif or gas back to refineries and shore pipeline networks. It is appropriate here to consider again the contrast between data available on land with data on the sea areas. A company planning a pipeline route to a r&nery from an offshore field CM expect to have a Iand map showing the current state of land development and vlery detailed land topography so that a route may be sefected to avoid built-up areas, ravines or hiHocks, etc, and, in many cases, land maps will be available to indicate the nature of the terrain (rock, sand, gravel, etc). The company would expect to pay to have the selected route surveyed in order to estimate the cost af drenchings etc, but not much more. Once the route reaches the coast, however, a cornpfeta survey must be carried out since, in most cases, the chart is quite devoid of data. Where, by lucky chance, data are available and the chart is adequate, the entire route may be selected from the chart with no form of payment by the company except the purchase price of the chart and fand maps. Any national hydro~ra~hic office may also expect to be consorted for advice on many other matters concerning the sea and seabed in
MAR1NE
POLlCY January
1977
9
H>drographic sewices - basic charting vital
to
all sea users
the exclusive economic zone, There is an increasing need to dispose of toxic materials and dumping at sea is becoming more commonplace, but it must be ascertained that tidal streams, currents, and bottom sedimentation are suitable in the setected places. Gravel has, for many years, been extracted fram suitable parts of the seabed but this has reached a point in many areas where the effects on navigable channels are significant. Fishermen have built up considerable knowledge of the seabed topography in their traditional fishing areas and carry the locat charts in their heads or in closely guarded files: as new grounds are opened. such traditionat ‘charting’ of the seabed is not posiible and, to avoid damage to valuable nets, all sharp objects must be located for them. Recreational users of the sea are also increasing and their needs, particularly in the shallow waters previously not much used by shipping, must be considered. Marine scientists. too. have increasing needs. Meteorologists and oceanographers, for example, need to know more about the water which lies above the seabed - its salinity, temperature, density, composition, etc. Such information is time-consuming to collect, at varying seasons of the year and at various depths, and to collate and analyse in order to advise on new fishing techniques and areas and new mifitary applications, and to improve our knowledge of weather prediction. Although most merchant vessels are now fitted with gyro compasses, most still rely on magnetic compasses as a stand-by system for steering, while the old magnetic compass is all that any small craft will carry: the variation, or the difference between true and magnetic north due to the earth’s magnetic field, must be measured in order to check on its variabIe changes. Frequent observations must be made of the strengths and directions of the horizontal movement of the water column due to the persistent currents and the tidal stream flow which changes according to the position of sun and moon. Without such detailed knowledge, it is impossible to predict the movement of any surface pollution which could arise off any coast should two large tankers cotiide.
National hydrographic requirements While the main requirement
‘“The IHO Yearbook 1976 (1976, International Hydrographic Organisation) includes detaifs of some 27 non-member countries with a focal point at least for hydrographir, matters. Some of the nonhave large member countries organisations. however; the USSR, for example, is listed as having 54 surveying vesssls of over 1200 tons belonging to the Soviet Navy, and has recently applied to join the IHO.
10
for hydrographic surveying was for the safety of shipping. it was logical for a country with a naval force (intended primarily to safeguard its merchant shipping) to use this organisation to administer its hydrographic service. Wherever the merchant vessels went, the naval hydrographic ships accompanied them. in order to safeguard their combined naval and mercantile fleets. As a result, 32 of the 47 maritime states now forming the II-IO have hydrographic departments administered by their Defence Departments. Two states have both a defence and civil hydrographic department while, of the remaining 13 member states, hydrographic services in five come under the Department of Transport and in two under the Environment Department, and in the rest are administered by other civil departments or statutory bodies (see Table 21, With the re-emergence of many smaller countries during the past two decades, some embryo hydrographic organisations have been developed by maritime states. I5 Most of the developing countries, however, have hitherto been mainly concerned with the maintenance of navigational aids or, at most, surveys of their ports and estuarine
MARiNE
POLICY
January
1937
Ffpb-ograpiric services - basic charl‘ing vifd m all sea users i&e
2. Hydrographie
arwices of
sefcc~ed ma&ime
States.
__1__1__
a
Pm
5 depot ships and 20 small survey
bunches. 3 new vessels under constructim, Under construcrirrn. Nan-member
of Em.
USA waters; only.
No of chsrts issued
Ministry responsibfe for hydrography
Argentine Aurtral ‘ad Eteigium t&z+~if @anada Chile Denmark Finland France FR Germany f&and tmB;a tndmesia tran Italy Japan Korea
LWerrce (navy) Defame Inavyl Puhiic WC&s &fence fnavyf fnvircmnent CWfence (navy) Dsfence (navy) TrWief Industry DPzfence bxIvy1 Tratlraort Justtce Navy Dμ [navy) t%fWW D&me (navy1 Mat% Safety Agency Trgflsportation
3 3 1 8 9 2
? 3 I 3 5 4
157 216 5 24G 995 217 168 117 2270 957 33 274 353 0 448 1354 311
Netherlands New Zeakid Nigeri a Nigoric3 Norway
D&nce hav3 rnfence bav-yl Transport &aFtd Qefcmce inavy) Environment
3 3
82 105
Pakistan Philippines: Poland Portugt3f Sp&fi
Defence Defeflce DeFence Dl;fence Dafence
SW&M
franspcti-t EMence tnavyf
5 se
Dsfence (navy I Commerce C&Fence (navy) Refence fnavyl CWi?nco fnavy)
13 15 5 1 2
USSR~ All over 12c)O tons.
No of shks ovef 140 tww
Country
UK USA USA v@~~ZUEi~
Yugaslavia
(navy 1 (navy) inavy) fnavy3 inavy
2 4a 7 6
2
1” 2 r, 2 3 6
47
Not known 250 21 169 35 251 400
143 2300 3500 95gf 7OOQ 21 86
waters surly; hydragraphic responsibility lies with Ministries af Mining and Natural Resources, Communications, * Post and Telegraphs_ Public Works, Works, Housing and Communications, and so on, In most cases, surveys of their continentaf sheIves have been negotiated with the otder natiuns having traditionaf responsibilities for such activities. In few developing countries is it appreciated that the development of the hinterland must go hand in hand with the development of the sea and the proving of sea eammunicatians. iMany island cornmun~t~e~ reIy almost entirely on the import of petroleum products and, with the withdrawal of the Small, sha~~ow-d~~ugh~ tanker and tramp fleets, many port facilities and approach routes are proving inadequate for the larger-displacemrremt vessels now in general use, The introduction of quite large luxury cruise liners could be of great economic importance to many smafl tropical islands, but several of these liners have atready been lost as a res& ofreiying too heavily on an old nautical chart.16 With the increasing likelihood nf coastal states acquiring some form OF jurisdiction over extensive exclusive economic zones, it will become increasingly important for some expertise ta be developed irr. k~drographic matters in aN maritime states. When an embryo ~rgan~~at~o~ already exists, it is perhaps best to build OR this rather than have uneconomic duplicatian of administrative and field &Tort,
H.vdrographic
services
- basic
charring vital to al!
sea users
but it is essential that there should be very close coordination at all levels with the wide variety of interests involved. A recent American report” suggests that the Soviet Naval Hydrographic Service. for example, shares responsibility with over 50 other academic institutions and government laboratories involved with hydrographic and oceanographic studies of their six million square kilometres of continental shelf, and of the worldwide ocean areas in which they are interested. It is estimated that the Soviet oceanographic research vessels numbered over 200 in 1974 with a totai dispiacemen~ of 320 000 dwt, mainly built during the past I.5 years. Very few countries could afford or justify such an effort, but, if it is considered necessary to provide some form of patrol vessel to protect the national rights within an exclusive economic zone, it couId be arranged for such craft to have a surveying capability so that vita1 data could be collected while patrolling the offshore zone. It will be necessary for precise navigational equipment to be provided in the patrol craft in order to settle any disputes which may arise as to where incidents occurred, Such equipment could also be used for bathymetric or geophysical surveying, but extra training would be needed to ensure the proper rendering of records and data. If such a surveying capability is provided, it is very important that the data affecting the safety of all international shipping should be made freely available for international publication. In some areas, individual maritime states may be too small to justify a large hydrographic organisation. In such cases. much could be done by cooperative programmes with adjoining states; pollution off one island state could weIi be carried by wind and tide to the beaches of an adjoining island state, and the safety of international shipping is of equal importance to all. Indeed, since all maritime operations, not least of all hydrography, are very expensive and timeconsuming, there is a great deal to be said for such cooperative schemes and it is strongIy recommended that regionai commissions should be set up as soon as possibfe to investigate the combined needs for hydrographic surveys, These should initially cover the main shipping routes likely to be used either as existing trade and cruise routes or as a result of offshore development. Since any agreements reached by the Law of the Sea Conference seem almost certain to safeguard the national rights to exploitation within national limits, there seems to be less reason for suspicion of marine research within such limits and no reason for any suppression even of geophysical data.
Refadanship
If ‘Soviet ocean activities’, US Committee
of Commerce 94th Congress. 1st Session. 30 April 7 976. inAnnotated bibliography of textbooks and reference matarials in marin@ sciences’ 1975.
12
(provisional w.fition). UNESCQ.
between hyd~ug~~~~y and oceanography
Hydrography is but one branch of the many interests and disciplines which interlock and overlap in ail aspects of the use of the sea or sea use planning. The contents of the latest bibliography of marine sciences oublished bv UNESC0*8 are classified under nine ‘Biological oceanography and categories; ‘General oceanography’, fisheries*, ‘Physicaf oceanography’, ‘Chemical oceanography’, ‘Marine geology and geophysics ‘, ‘Ocean engineering and technology’, ‘Pollution and radio-activity ‘, ‘Review books’ and ‘History - law of the’ sea and ocean affairs’. At a first glance, it might be thought that even such an informed
MARINE
PUtlCY
January
1977
Hydrographic services - basic charting vital to all sea users
publication had taken hydrography for granted, but a study of the annotated entries shows that almost all sections make reference to hydrography since. whatever one is planning (a holiday on land or sea, a building project, military operation, or any form of marine research). the common prerequisite is a map or chart. In establishing the minimum requirement for hydrography in a developing country, it might be helpful to consider the report” of a consultative meeting by UNESCO in Paris in November 1975 to study the original requirements for interdisciplinary marine research in the Persian Gulf. The aim of this meeting was to identify the particular needs of the various littoral states and the most appropriate contributions which each could make. Since there was overlapping between the four working groups, a summary of their recommendations was made and this provides a ccmprehensive indication of the competence of several UN agencies to assist and demonstrates not only the interdisciplinary nature of marine science but also the need for a multibased approach. The report states: ‘It is
best - all things
this functions strength quality
lies. The strength of training
can be assured
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
The role of each of existing
facilities and educational
by governments:
maximising
facilities
institutions
are located’.
state
of the scientific contribution
and experience
related to the existing
t9’Marrne Sciences in the Gulf area’, UNESCO Technical Papers in Marine Science, No 26, UNESCO, 1976.
being equal - to butld on the already
satisfactorily.
is most
senior
important;
scientific
provided
on the field in which
of an institution
infrastructure;
here the degree
existing infrastructure,
will depend
staff, which (ii) the financial
of national
(iii) the environmental
its
will depend on (i) the
integration snuation
in turn will be resources
that
in sharing
and
in which
the
The report devotes 15 of its 66 pages to a review of hydrographical and productivity conditions in the region. The staff of any hydrographic office must therefore now cater for the needs not only of the sailor (be he in a 450 000 dwt tanker or a participant in a local sailing regatta), the fisherman and the commercial offshore operator, but also for the wide ranging interests of marine scientists. Where a national hydrographic office has been long established it can be adjusted in various ways to meet these rapidly changing requirements. In the USA, the USN Hydrographer has been retitled the Oceanographer of the Navy, and his staff has been increased and adjusted to enable the department to tackle all the wide aspects of national defence requirements in both hydrography and oceanography in close collaboration with a very wide range of other governmental departments and educational and other institutions. The role of the Soviet Hydrographer has already been mentioned. In the UK: the Lord Privy Seal has become responsible for coordinating al1 marine policy; the Natural Environment Research Council (with its Institutes of both Oceanographic and Geological Sciences), the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Scottish Marine Biological Association, University and Polytechnic faculties and other bodies and individuals combine with the Hydrographic Department of the Ministry of Defence which has, by and large, retained its traditional role. In all cases, the existing facilities and educational infrastructure must be considered in conjunction with the assessed national and regional needs. While duplication is to be avoided, the traditional roles of existing bodies must not be discarded lightly; rather, they should be
13
Hydrographic services - basic charting vital to aii sea userr
built up and coordinated in order to provide service in the most cost-effective way.
the requisite
national
As has been stated, all forms of hydrographic work are expensive, much more so than land surveying and mapping, in view of the capital and running costs of the vessels required. These vessels must be designed to give a stable pfatform in the worst weather conditions fikely to be encountered in the projected area of operations. Whife a fishing vessel huh is wet1 suited to many forms of oceanographic work. it may not be spacious or stable enough for gravity and precise depth measurements. Perhaps an ideal-size vessel for work within 200 miles of the coast is the UK’s commercially designed Coastal Survey Vessel ‘Bulldog’ Class. This. however, costs about f4M to build and equip and about f700 000 per year to operate and maintain. Such a cost is nevertheless small when compared with, say, that of a commercial or military aeroplane, or of motorway construction. Such a vessel may be expected to last for up to 25 years and to be operational for over 200 24-hour days each year.The cost coufd be reduced if a de&berate policy were adopted of cutting back on maintenance, but ali experience shows that this is very short-sighted and should never be accepted for any vessel required to seek out shallow waters or hidden dangers as a routine task, or where failure of equipment can negate the whole of a long research programme. Such a vessel could survey about 500 square nautical miles per year in compiicated shallow waters, or about 1000 square nautical miles per year of less complicated or deeper waters and, in both cases, more if it was not required to investigate and obtain the precise least depth of water over all wrecks and other obstructions. However, in view of the present requirements, such exacting standards should be the ruIe and not the exception, and the above areas may weft not always be achieved. Apart from the cost and length of time required to provide a suitable hull, there is the equally important and restricting factor of the essential training of the specialist personnel required. For hydrography in the traditional role. this involves long periods of practicat training in addition to theoretical knowledge: experience in recently developed hydrographic ofhces is that a period of at Ieast 8 to 10 years is required, with some amount of expatriate supervision before indigenous personnel have the all-round experience to assume complete command of a seagoing hydrographic unit. Recruits should be basically seamen with a Ieaning towards mathematics or the sciences. although land surveyors couid, over a similar period, develop a seamanship background. It is also possible to run a research vessel with a permanent crew of non-specialised seamen to operate and man the ship, with a small team of specialists borne for a particular aspect of each cruise. This is often done on marine-scientific cruises, but it is less acceptable for routine hydrographic work since decisions affecting the safety of the vessel when approaching unsurveyed and potentialfy dangerous areas should not be split between the captain or master of the vessel and the senior scientific specialist. A comprehensive hydrographic survey of a large area will also occupy a longer period than most other forms of
14
MARINE
POtiCY
January
1977
H~&ogrphic
2oOne example of such cooperative projects is the Joint Malacca Straits Hydrographic Survey IJMSS). a very successful cooperative survey of the Malacca and Stngapore Straits carried out by Indonesia. Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore to supplement the work carried out earlier by UK survey ships. Both the UN and the IHO helped in the initiation of this project. Rear Admiral Haslam, OBE, FRICS. FRIN. FRGS. MN/, was educated at Bromsgrove School. Worcestershire. Having joined the Royai Navv in 1941, he began to specialise as a hydrographic surveyor in 1944 and, between 1944 and f957, participated in surveys in many parts of the world. Between 1958 and 1973 he was in charge of surveys in command of HM Survey Ships ‘Dalrymple: ‘Dampier: ‘Owen’, ‘He&a’, and ‘Hydra: He has had various shore appointments in the UK Hydrographic Department and was Hydrographer of the Royal Australian Navy from 1965 to 1967. He has been Hydrographer of since the Navy September 1975. Rear Admiral Haslam written various articles for has hydrogra~hic and nav~gat~onaljournals.
MARlNE
POLICY
January
1977
services
-basic
charting vital to all sea users
marine data collection and the collection of hydrographic data for chart correction can best be likened to the work of an artist painting a picture: the work cannot be shared either consecutively or concurrently. If the ltydro~raphic specialist must be borne throughout a long cruise, it is uneconomic to have additional crew manning the vessel. In all countries, what is therefore urgently required is an assessment of the national effort needed to meet the needs for the future use of the sea and of their exclusive economic zones. Existing organisations should then be developed, or new organisations established. to provide these services, preferably in cooperation with countries having longer-established hydrographic facilities.*O During such cooperative projects, indigenous staff receive on-thespot training while contributing to the completion of the survey to the mutual benefit of all the littoral states and of international shipping, including that on passage through the area but not calling in any of the local ports. Resulting data are published not only by some, or all, of the participating countries but are made fully available to all agencies maintaining chart coverage of the area. In this article the back-up facilities needed ashore to support surveying operations afloat are not considered. Yet data collected are of little value unless published: data relevant to the safety of shipping must be disseminated immediately and the relevant charts amended by notices to mariners and correction of the master plates from which amended versions of the charts can be printed. The compilation, drafting. printing, distribution and correction of navigational charts is as specialised as the operation of the surveying ship: very careful study is needed before the establishment of a national office facility, which could be very uneconomic (in the case of a small chart series) or inefficient if regarded as a poor relation of a land mapping or scientific institution accustomed to handling quite different parameters. When a decision is taken to establish or expand a national hydrographic service. both the UN and the IHO will provide technical advice. The IHO is specifically intended to encourage international cooperation and collaboration between hydrographic offices and will and information on hydrographic procedures, supply advice standards to be employed both at sea and in chart compilation and production, and on the reporting system to be used in the international dissemination of navigational information. All maritime states should aim to have at least some ability to undertake surveys off their own coasts in order to reduce the risks of pollution and loss of life by the international mercantile fleets on which they must all depend and to expedite the economic exploitation of the untapped wealth of the oceans.
15
D.W. Haslam
International 80% to
maritime
of all world the
any
economic
country.
trade
trade)
development
Two
thirds
continental
world’s never
been
now
required
vessels,
for
and offshore
exploitation
of
expanded air
All
be
communication the
the
exclusive
hydrographic
coordinated
in parallel
updating
with
potential
zones.
must
have
deep-draught
liners,
connected
economic
sparse
the
to standards
operations
effort
of
of
shelf
surveyed
cruise
(about
is essential
with
and
land
and
systems 19th
by
century
data (on which
most nautical
are still based)
before
more
strandings
and
consequent
Haslam
is Hydrographer
pollution
occur.
Rear Admiral of Old
the
Navy,
War
London
charts serious
Ministry
Office SWl,
Building,
of
Defence, Whitehall,
UK.
We tend to take basic necessities for granted. We turn on a tap and expect clean water to flow. We buy a land map and expect the latest motorways to be shown. It is only when the unexpected happens that we wonder what goes on behind the scenes to produce the expected. All too often, there have been indications of impending failure which we. as individuals, administrative bodies, or even as nations, have not heeded and action to avoid failures or disasters has been taken too late. This is all too true of hydrography. For centuries, mariners have explored the globe to find new countries with new natural resources and to develop trade. Each probe into the unknown has brought back more information about the hidden dangers beneath the surface of the sea. Generations of dedicated hydrographic surveyors of many nations have built up a data bank which is available to international mariners in the form of charts, volumes of sailing directions, and other nautical publications. ‘Put your trust in God and the Admiralty Chart’ became a motto well earned by my predecessors. However. like the water tap, the Admiralty Chart is taken for granted. While the size of vessels remained constant and their routes followed those taken frequently by vessels of similar draughts, mariners could expect to remain safe, but this complacent sense of security is no longer justified. Just because charts are available, showing all the land masses in modern detail, it should not be assumed that they are adequate for all sea users.
Role of hydrography in economic development International trade is essential to economic progress and development, especially to developing countries striving to raise the level of their economies and improve the living standards of their people. Economic development generates a substantial requirement for imports: to finance these it is essential first to exploit and export any national mineral and agricultural resources and, later, to build up an industrial capacity leading to further exports. Initially, such trade will be with countries with longer-established industrial economies: seldom will there be land communications with such countries and maritime trade will be vital, even to most land-locked nations. The
MARINE
POLICY January
1977
3
Upirograpkic services - basic charting vital to ail sea users
world’s mercantile marine still carries some 80% of all international trade by volume, and only slightly less by value. Unlike land transport, marine traffic (and. to an onty slightly lesser extent. air traficf is entirely dependent on good maps or charts. A ship or an aircraft cannot stop to ask pedestrians for directions, nor can they usually see dangers in their paths. While air-traffic control plays a large part in the safe navigation of aircraft, ships have such assistance only when approaching a few major ports. During the past two hundred years, and particufarty in the past two decades when aerial and satellite photography have speeded up the contouring of land-mass areas, very good land maps and air charts have been produced for almost all countries. The need for ships to carry charts adequate for their particular passage is only now being acknowledged and several countries, including the UK, have recently introduced legislation making it compulsory for all ships registered in such countries to carry an adequate outfit of charts. Modern surveys are essential for new cruising routes and when siting new ports or enhancing the facilities of existing ports to handle ships of greater draught. A careful study of modern surveys of alternative sites and approaches can often achieve substantial dredging economies in port operations (eg by minimising requirements). The search for and exploitation of offshore naturai resources are other important aspects of economic development and here again hydragraphic surveys are basic tools for such activities.
Present state of h~d~o~r~ph~~ knowledge
1 A new side-scan sonar, ‘Hydrosearch’, is now being fitted to HM Survey Ship which has a stabilised sonar ‘Bulldog’. array that can be used both vertically and horizontally to give a range and bearing as well as a depression angle to any isolated danger more than 1 m in sire, up to 450m from the ship. Such a system should considerabty speed up the task of locating all isolated objects. It has already been used extensively in fishery research and has great potential also for offshore activities such as surveillance of pipelines and underwater fittings,
4
In order to assess the adequacy of existing nauticaf charts it is advisable to consider what is involved in their production. The most important item shown on any nautical chart is the depth of water (although this must also be shown accurately in relation to land features). Untit comparatively recently, the only way to record depth was to cast a lead weight, on a marked line, until it hit the seabed and to record the depth when the tine was as near vertical as possible. Such casts covered the few square centimetres hit by the lead and ignored any obstructions in the vicinity. Since the mid 193Os, vertical sound waves have been used to record the depth under a survey ship by ‘echo sounding’ but this again only covers a narrow swathe of the seabed and ignores irregularities to either side of the track. In the past two decades, various forms of sonar have been used to indicate obstructions to either side of an echo-sounded track but, if found, such hazards have had to be laboriously investigated by sweeping frequently over the top of them with a wire stretched horizontally at various depths until a clearing depth was found. It can still take up to six hours to focate and ‘height’ each isolated danger such as a wreck or rock.! Since about 7 1% of the earth’s surface is covered by water, the task of the hydrographic surveyor has always been too vast for the available resources. However. by carefully allocating resources to the areas, and by and potentially dangerous most frequented concentrating on areas where depths are Iikefy fo be of critical interest to the deepest-draught ship expected to use the area, the number of casualties due to striking uncharted objects has been kept remarkably low. Fires, collisions, human errors of judgement or navigation, and material breakdowns are still the most common cause of marine
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
HJdrographic
Figure 1. survey
Ship’s
danger
draught
in relation
vital to all sea users
to
IO -
Maximumexpecfed drought Surveydonqer
E
Survey danger line Depths below which full search for and examination of seabed dangers were not considered necessary (ml: 1850-1900 11 1900-l 963 20 Since 1963 31
z s o _I P 6
be
15 zo25-
wreck symbol on charts
Depth above wreck represented Until 1960 < 14.6 1960-1963 < 18.3 1963-1968 <20.1 1968-1976 <27.4
(m):
1850
POLICY
January
1870
1890
1910
1930
1950
1970
1990
Year
* Unfortunately, there have been many strandings recently: for expensive example, SS ‘Igara’ of 133 848 dwt north of the Sunda Sea in March 1973, SS ‘Sir Winston Churchill’ of 95 300 dwt also in the South China Sea in March 1974, SS ‘Antilles’ (then the largest French liner) in the Caribbean in January 197 1, and both the UK cruise liner ‘Carmania’ and the Swedish bulk carrier ‘Ariadne’, of 101 700 dwt, have grounded in the Caribbean. In all cases, inadequate charts of the routes were found to be a major contributing factor. 3 Commodore D.C. Kapoor. International Hydrographic Review, Vol LIII. No 2, July 1976. p 9. 4 ibId, p 1 1 Study ’ Report of the Hydrographic Group. March 1975. The Group was set up by the Ministry of Defence on 17 July 1974 to assess the future UK civil hydrographic requirement. ‘These include areas such as the South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Southern Pacific Islands, Seychelles Bank, much of the East African Coasts, the Red Sea and parts of the Caribbean, as well as many others
MARINE
- basic charting
line.
a Depths below this line were not fully examined at the time of the survey.
Dangerous
setCces
1977
accidents. Nevertheless, as Figure 1 shows, pressure of work has always meant that large parts of all areas surveyed until very recently have been left without full examination below a depth only slightly more than the deepest-draught vessel afloat at the time of the survey.* An analysis3 of the existing poor state of hydrographic knowledge of the ocean depths, made by a director of the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO), indicates that data are available to determine accurately no more than about 16% of the ocean’s seafloor topography and the major seafloor features only of a further 22% of the oceans. In the remaining 62% of the ocean areas, data are too sparse even for a rough estimate of the shape and size of the major seafloor features. Many of the ocean areas, however, are too deep to be of significant interest to surface shipping, but even within the comparatively shallow waters of the continental shelf the areas covered by echosounder at acceptable scale and including modern sonar sweeps are much less than is perhaps generally appreciated. A study made for the UN Economic and Social Council’ shows that, for countries that do not yet have a national hydrographic capability, at least 60% of coastal areas are covered by low-density or incomplete surveys which, in many cases, date back to between the 1830s and about 19 10. An assessment made by the UK Hydrographic Study Group5 showed that of the 146 300 square nautical miles of the UK continental shelf, only 44 500 nautical miles, or 24%, had been so covered as to show the least depth over most wrecks and obstructions, while 72% was still either unsurveyed or surveyed only by hand lead line. Such a situation exists off almost every maritime country and, although very unsatisfactory, this is adequate for the safe navigation of conventional ships operating along traditional routes. However, a quick study of the best charts available shows that there are many cases in which cautions are printed on charts warning even conventional-draught ships to avoid the area or to navigate with extreme caution owing to inadequate survey data.6 Many of these unexplored areas lie some distance offshore and again it must be emphasised that, until very recently, soundings could
5
Hydrographic services - basic charting vital to all sea users
be located accurately only when within sight of easily identified and well positioned land objects. Although frequent use was made of large floating reference beacons anchored in quite shallow water, it was not until the introduction of electronic distance-measuring gear in the mid 1950s that accurate offshore sounding was possible. Even the most experienced navigator, with precise chronometers and ideal weather conditions, can only expect to obtain positions from sextant observations to stars and planets at dusk and dawn, and then with possible errors of up to at least a nautical mile. Observations in daylight hours may be even more in error, due to abnormal refraction and, as a result, ‘reported shoals (position approximate)’ shown on charts may be up to 5 miles or more from their true positions. This results in extra steaming and needless concern for all passing shipping. The introduction of modern satellite navigation systems enables mariners to locate their positions more accurately than could even the iand surveyors when the land features were charted.’ Mariners fortunate enough to have ‘Satnav’ systems should expect to find that the charts available are at least as accurate as their navigational systems and they shoufd not be jeopardised by doubt as to their position relative to charted dangers.
New needs for improved hydrography for navigation
’ Several recent instances are recorded of charted land masses being found to be up to 8 miles in error. 8 Hydrographic Study Group (1975). op cit. Appendix 9.
6
When most of the data on which present charts are based were obtained. trade was carried overland by horse and cart to the ports and thence transported in sailing ships. When steam replaced sail at sea, some additional surveying was needed, but, in general, 19th century surveys were adequate, since the draught of vessels increased only slightly. Contrast the expenditure involved in coping with land and air transportation needs. In most developed and many developing countries, vast networks of roads and even motorways have been provided and air terminals have been constructed to keep pace with changing requirements. A manufacturer wishing to transport a heavy or extra large load expects to be able to buy an updated map showing the available road network without having to pay to have the roads constructed or surveyed. He can contact local transport officials for advice on the bearing capacity of any bridges over which his load may have to pass or the height under any obstructions. An aircraft pilot, too, expects to find on his special aviation chart the height over all natural and man-made obstructions so that, in poor visibility, he does not strike the summit of a mountain or a TV mast. Neither the motorist nor the aviator would accept maps last revised more than 100 years ago. Yet this is what the mariner is expected to do. It has been shown that 22% of the 3265 charts in the worldwide Admiralty series were published before 1900 and that 42% of this series have had no major revision within the last 16 years.* Had the draught of ships remained constant, this might have been acceptable, but Lloyd’s statistics show that whereas there were only three vessels of over 130 000 dwt in 1965 there were 5 I4 vessels larger than 100 000 dwt in 1973. There is some difficulty in forecasting future trends of world shipping, but there is absolutely no doubt that the number of ships with draughts of more than 20m (the depth below which shoals were not fully investigated until the early 1960s) will remain a considerable proportion of the world’s mercantile fleets.
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
Hydrographic services - basic charting vital to all sea users
9 Again, to quote exact it is hard tolerances, but 10% of the draught appears common practice. This implies that for a VLCC with a draught of 20m. it is assumed that all objects standing more than 2m from the general seabed have been accurately located and heighted. If they have not been so charted, then the VLCC is likely to be at risk if navigated along a new track and over a charted seabed 22m deep. ‘O One of the most notorious of these is the Southern North Sea where offshore banks such as the Goodwin Sands, Edinburgh Channels, etc. have claimed many victims over the centuries. ” Hansard, 7 July 1976, Col561. l2 The wreckage of an oil tanker on an inadequately surveyed seabed rock north of the Seychelles in 1970 posed a threat of massive pollution among the islands, whose economy was almost entirely dependent on tourism and inshore fishing. Such a catastrophe was avoided only by the mounting of an expensive dispersal operation and the ingenuity of a Royal Navy clearance diving team in conditions unfit for diving operations. They devised and rapidly executed explosive demolition of the ship’s oil tanks from a helicopter, allowing the 50 000 tons of oil to disperse into the Indian Ocean only a few days before the onset of the monsoons brought onshore winds.
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
These larger ships are required, for economic reasons, to operate with much less underkeel clearance than has previously been accepted.9 The development of deep-draught ships has turned hitherto perfectly navigable waters into shallow seas. They require much more room to manoeuvre than conventional ships and should be free to take action to avoid collisions and tropical storms without fear of moving into unsurveyed waters. There is not much point, furthermore, in dredging a harbour to handle deeper-draught ships if these are liable to run aground several miles offshore on a sandbank or wreck whose position and least depth have not been checked recently. The introduction of new iron-ore ports in Western Australia was postponed until international shipping could be provided with new charts to show that navigation to and from the new berths was safe. There are also many areas of the world in which the seabed itself is unstable and liable to alter as a result of tidal action after periods of strong winds.‘O Such areas must be resurveyed at frequent intervals to ensure the safe passage even of conventional-size ships. Some critical areas must be checked at least once every 12 months, while test lines must be run at least every 5 years in all the major routes between the Humber and Beachy Head, thus occupying a large proportion of the available effort of the littoral states concerned. Within such areas, the numerous wrecks resulting from collisions and other accidents and the devastation of various wars may also move, both in position and attitude. A large wreck may be thought to be lying on its side with a fair clearance over its smooth hull, whereas scouring by strong tides may have caused it to heel over into a scoured hole leaving masts and superstructure projecting dangerously towards the surface. A written answer recently given to a question in the UK House of Commons” indicated that of a total of 14 000 wrecks known to lie on the UK continental shelf, the exact position was not known of more than 11 000 of these, and the least depth was unknown of more than 12 500. This is probably higher than in most other parts of the world owing to the volume of traffic, war casualties, and weather conditions, but there are wrecks off almost all coasts of the world and every maritime country has a responsibility to locate and height these for the benefit of international shipping and the avoidance of further casualties and pollution.‘* All the major hydrographic offices, therefore, are being forced to review the adequacy of their existing data for the sudden increase in draught of all shipping expected to operate through the waters for which they have the responsibility for charting. By no means all maritime countries have their own national capability either to survey their coasts or to produce charts for the benefit of international trade along or to and from their coasts. There are still very many countries in which there is no department of government with any responsibility for hydrography, nor any realisation of the vital importance of hydrographic matters, even for navigational purposes. Perhaps only the stranding of a supertanker off a popular bathing resort will bring home the stark necessity of devoting attention to the matter.
Offshore exploitation Oil and gas have been extracted
from the shallow waters in the Gulf
7
Hydrographic
services - basic charting vital to all sea users
t3The Geographer, US Bureau of intelligence and Research, ‘Theoretical areal allocations of seabed to coastal states’, International Boundary Study Series A: Limits in the Seas, US Bureau of Intelligence and Research, No 46, 12 August 1972. ‘4 For example, the first client may want to know only if it is safe to take a platform drawing 65m and a survey is carried out to prove such a route: depths over 68m would not be fully examined. A second client, with a platform of 70m. would then have to start all over again, particularly if a previous report existed of a wreck near the route with an unknown position and depth.
8
of Mexico, Persian Gulf, Borneo and Trinidad for several years. Recent improvements in technology and the increasing costs of petroleum products generally have enabled profitable extraction from much deeper depths and in much more exposed areas. Exploration is now taking place off many hitherto most unlikely areas and much has been made of the economic prospects of the North Sea and other exploitation areas. Much of this exploration has been financed by the private sector on an ad hoc basis in advance of national geophysical and geological studies with the result that the international oil companies are often in possession of much more data than the national authorities with whom they subsequently have to negotiate licences. Should the current UN Law of the Sea Conference (UNCLOS) reach agreement as to the extent and nature of any exclusive economic zones,’ many maritime states will expect to acquire rights over considerable sea areas. In many cases, these maritime regions will exceed by a large amount the previous land areas of the maritime states. Some idea of the effects on coastal states of the various limits considered by UNCLOS is given in an analysis by the US Bureau of Intelligence and Research. I3 This suggests that the 118 coastal states considered would receive about 6 298 800 square nautical miles if the 200m depth limit were accepted, about 8 578 800 square nautical miles if a 40 nautical mile zone were accepted. or about 24 632 400 square nautical miles of continental shelf and adjacent seabed if a 200 nautical mile limit were accepted. The effects on some maritime states are given in Table I. About two thirds of this vast area is, as yet, unsurveyed. With the rights to exploit must go the responsibility to survey, not only for maritime safety but also because of economic necessity. In all cases, it is important that the state should acquire, as early as possible, a comprehensive bathymetric, geophysical and geological survey of its offshore zone. It is important, too, that such a survey should be coordinated by the state to ensure that all work is carried out to the same standards and using the same vertical and horizontal datum points and to avoid wasteful duplication of effort. There is a very real difference. which is too often overlooked, between a comprehensive survey carried out for charting or navigational purposes and one carried out for the specific purpose of a single client. In the former, full information must be obtained about all parameters and agreement must be reached with adjacent surveys, while information held from earlier reports must be definitely proved or disproved so that any future queries can be answered. For a particular client, data are only collected to answer his specific problems, which may well not be so exacting as those of the next client. who must then pay to have the whole area re-covered to meet his needs.i4 The needs of offshore operators to tow unwieldy units such as concrete production platforms (costing over &65M and with draughts of over 65m) were not envisaged when even quite recent surveys were undertaken and it is manifestly unreasonable to expect owners or insurers to have such expensive units manoeuvred from their shore construction sites to the eventual production site without adequate knowledge of the safety of the selected routes. Charts should be nationally available to enable such routes to be selected. This should also be the case in the selection of the route along which to lay a
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
Country USAij Australiaa lndonesiaa New Eeatartcf” Canadaa USSR Jape? Brazil’ f&%ico C&sea NorllV*ya
a Member $tatw of IHO. Source: The Geographer, US Bureau af lnteiiigence and Research, ‘Theoreticat areai aiiocations of seabed to coastal SteteS’. ~~~~~~~~~o~~~ ~~~~~~r~ Studr Series A: Limits in the Seas. US Bureau of intelligence and Research, Na 46, 12 August 1972, and IHO Yearbook1976, International Hydragraphic Organlsation, 107R
tnd@ Philippine? Portugale Mal agagy Rep Spaina Mauritius Argentine’ Ecuadora Fiji South Africa” Chine Maldives tlKa Icetanda Peru Somalia Sri Lanka Malaytiaa Ireland Venezuelda
m3aa Libya Jamaica tiberia Tanzania Ghana Saudi Arabia
200 m
40 nautical
200 nautical
No of survey
zone
mile zone
mile zone
ships over 225 tans
545 4aa 663 600 8QS 600
?31300 4~66~ f 0% 100 746400 963000
2 222 OOQ 20433= 1 57-z 300 f 409 500 1 370 000 1 309 500 1 126000 924 000 831 500 667 3ao 590 500 587 600 551 400 517 400 376 800 355 600 345 OQO 339 500 338 000 330 900 296 500 281 000 279 700 274 800 252 800 229 4QO 228 300 150 900
70800 846600 3643130 140 100 224 100 128 4#Q 8000 30 000 131 800 52 000 114ciO 52 600 49 700 26700 232 200 t3 700 sao 41 800 230 ‘I00 3 000 143 500 39 a00 24 ?O# 17 700 7 80(5 108 900 36 700 25 7QO 23 3oa 24 400 Ii 700 6 700 121300 6 100 22 100
a57 200 180 100
189700 236 100 f550011 178L100
176300 230200 60600 77300 126 000 30 400
77200 97oMf 74600 57 000 138500 64 100 5 04900 57500 66200 64200 45300 66600 27 500 56300 91900 38fOO 26900 12300 23 600 12 700 43 800
18 3 3 f 9 54 4 a 1 2 2
3 5 3 6 3 I 1 Not known
138700 110900 106 100 105 800 98 600 86 800 67 000 65100 63 600 54 300
submerged pipeline to bring the oif or gas back to refineries and shore pipeline networks. It is appropriate here to consider again the contrast between data available on land with data on the sea areas. A company planning a pipeline route to a r&nery from an offshore field CM expect to have a Iand map showing the current state of land development and vlery detailed land topography so that a route may be sefected to avoid built-up areas, ravines or hiHocks, etc, and, in many cases, land maps will be available to indicate the nature of the terrain (rock, sand, gravel, etc). The company would expect to pay to have the selected route surveyed in order to estimate the cost af drenchings etc, but not much more. Once the route reaches the coast, however, a cornpfeta survey must be carried out since, in most cases, the chart is quite devoid of data. Where, by lucky chance, data are available and the chart is adequate, the entire route may be selected from the chart with no form of payment by the company except the purchase price of the chart and fand maps. Any national hydro~ra~hic office may also expect to be consorted for advice on many other matters concerning the sea and seabed in
MAR1NE
POLlCY January
1977
9
H>drographic sewices - basic charting vital
to
all sea users
the exclusive economic zone, There is an increasing need to dispose of toxic materials and dumping at sea is becoming more commonplace, but it must be ascertained that tidal streams, currents, and bottom sedimentation are suitable in the setected places. Gravel has, for many years, been extracted fram suitable parts of the seabed but this has reached a point in many areas where the effects on navigable channels are significant. Fishermen have built up considerable knowledge of the seabed topography in their traditional fishing areas and carry the locat charts in their heads or in closely guarded files: as new grounds are opened. such traditionat ‘charting’ of the seabed is not posiible and, to avoid damage to valuable nets, all sharp objects must be located for them. Recreational users of the sea are also increasing and their needs, particularly in the shallow waters previously not much used by shipping, must be considered. Marine scientists. too. have increasing needs. Meteorologists and oceanographers, for example, need to know more about the water which lies above the seabed - its salinity, temperature, density, composition, etc. Such information is time-consuming to collect, at varying seasons of the year and at various depths, and to collate and analyse in order to advise on new fishing techniques and areas and new mifitary applications, and to improve our knowledge of weather prediction. Although most merchant vessels are now fitted with gyro compasses, most still rely on magnetic compasses as a stand-by system for steering, while the old magnetic compass is all that any small craft will carry: the variation, or the difference between true and magnetic north due to the earth’s magnetic field, must be measured in order to check on its variabIe changes. Frequent observations must be made of the strengths and directions of the horizontal movement of the water column due to the persistent currents and the tidal stream flow which changes according to the position of sun and moon. Without such detailed knowledge, it is impossible to predict the movement of any surface pollution which could arise off any coast should two large tankers cotiide.
National hydrographic requirements While the main requirement
‘“The IHO Yearbook 1976 (1976, International Hydrographic Organisation) includes detaifs of some 27 non-member countries with a focal point at least for hydrographir, matters. Some of the nonhave large member countries organisations. however; the USSR, for example, is listed as having 54 surveying vesssls of over 1200 tons belonging to the Soviet Navy, and has recently applied to join the IHO.
10
for hydrographic surveying was for the safety of shipping. it was logical for a country with a naval force (intended primarily to safeguard its merchant shipping) to use this organisation to administer its hydrographic service. Wherever the merchant vessels went, the naval hydrographic ships accompanied them. in order to safeguard their combined naval and mercantile fleets. As a result, 32 of the 47 maritime states now forming the II-IO have hydrographic departments administered by their Defence Departments. Two states have both a defence and civil hydrographic department while, of the remaining 13 member states, hydrographic services in five come under the Department of Transport and in two under the Environment Department, and in the rest are administered by other civil departments or statutory bodies (see Table 21, With the re-emergence of many smaller countries during the past two decades, some embryo hydrographic organisations have been developed by maritime states. I5 Most of the developing countries, however, have hitherto been mainly concerned with the maintenance of navigational aids or, at most, surveys of their ports and estuarine
MARiNE
POLICY
January
1937
Ffpb-ograpiric services - basic charl‘ing vifd m all sea users i&e
2. Hydrographie
arwices of
sefcc~ed ma&ime
States.
__1__1__
a
Pm
5 depot ships and 20 small survey
bunches. 3 new vessels under constructim, Under construcrirrn. Nan-member
of Em.
USA waters; only.
No of chsrts issued
Ministry responsibfe for hydrography
Argentine Aurtral ‘ad Eteigium t&z+~if @anada Chile Denmark Finland France FR Germany f&and tmB;a tndmesia tran Italy Japan Korea
LWerrce (navy) Defame Inavyl Puhiic WC&s &fence fnavyf fnvircmnent CWfence (navy) Dsfence (navy) TrWief Industry DPzfence bxIvy1 Tratlraort Justtce Navy Dμ [navy) t%fWW D&me (navy1 Mat% Safety Agency Trgflsportation
3 3 1 8 9 2
? 3 I 3 5 4
157 216 5 24G 995 217 168 117 2270 957 33 274 353 0 448 1354 311
Netherlands New Zeakid Nigeri a Nigoric3 Norway
D&nce hav3 rnfence bav-yl Transport &aFtd Qefcmce inavy) Environment
3 3
82 105
Pakistan Philippines: Poland Portugt3f Sp&fi
Defence Defeflce DeFence Dl;fence Dafence
SW&M
franspcti-t EMence tnavyf
5 se
Dsfence (navy I Commerce C&Fence (navy) Refence fnavyl CWi?nco fnavy)
13 15 5 1 2
USSR~ All over 12c)O tons.
No of shks ovef 140 tww
Country
UK USA USA v@~~ZUEi~
Yugaslavia
(navy 1 (navy) inavy) fnavy3 inavy
2 4a 7 6
2
1” 2 r, 2 3 6
47
Not known 250 21 169 35 251 400
143 2300 3500 95gf 7OOQ 21 86
waters surly; hydragraphic responsibility lies with Ministries af Mining and Natural Resources, Communications, * Post and Telegraphs_ Public Works, Works, Housing and Communications, and so on, In most cases, surveys of their continentaf sheIves have been negotiated with the otder natiuns having traditionaf responsibilities for such activities. In few developing countries is it appreciated that the development of the hinterland must go hand in hand with the development of the sea and the proving of sea eammunicatians. iMany island cornmun~t~e~ reIy almost entirely on the import of petroleum products and, with the withdrawal of the Small, sha~~ow-d~~ugh~ tanker and tramp fleets, many port facilities and approach routes are proving inadequate for the larger-displacemrremt vessels now in general use, The introduction of quite large luxury cruise liners could be of great economic importance to many smafl tropical islands, but several of these liners have atready been lost as a res& ofreiying too heavily on an old nautical chart.16 With the increasing likelihood nf coastal states acquiring some form OF jurisdiction over extensive exclusive economic zones, it will become increasingly important for some expertise ta be developed irr. k~drographic matters in aN maritime states. When an embryo ~rgan~~at~o~ already exists, it is perhaps best to build OR this rather than have uneconomic duplicatian of administrative and field &Tort,
H.vdrographic
services
- basic
charring vital to al!
sea users
but it is essential that there should be very close coordination at all levels with the wide variety of interests involved. A recent American report” suggests that the Soviet Naval Hydrographic Service. for example, shares responsibility with over 50 other academic institutions and government laboratories involved with hydrographic and oceanographic studies of their six million square kilometres of continental shelf, and of the worldwide ocean areas in which they are interested. It is estimated that the Soviet oceanographic research vessels numbered over 200 in 1974 with a totai dispiacemen~ of 320 000 dwt, mainly built during the past I.5 years. Very few countries could afford or justify such an effort, but, if it is considered necessary to provide some form of patrol vessel to protect the national rights within an exclusive economic zone, it couId be arranged for such craft to have a surveying capability so that vita1 data could be collected while patrolling the offshore zone. It will be necessary for precise navigational equipment to be provided in the patrol craft in order to settle any disputes which may arise as to where incidents occurred, Such equipment could also be used for bathymetric or geophysical surveying, but extra training would be needed to ensure the proper rendering of records and data. If such a surveying capability is provided, it is very important that the data affecting the safety of all international shipping should be made freely available for international publication. In some areas, individual maritime states may be too small to justify a large hydrographic organisation. In such cases. much could be done by cooperative programmes with adjoining states; pollution off one island state could weIi be carried by wind and tide to the beaches of an adjoining island state, and the safety of international shipping is of equal importance to all. Indeed, since all maritime operations, not least of all hydrography, are very expensive and timeconsuming, there is a great deal to be said for such cooperative schemes and it is strongIy recommended that regionai commissions should be set up as soon as possibfe to investigate the combined needs for hydrographic surveys, These should initially cover the main shipping routes likely to be used either as existing trade and cruise routes or as a result of offshore development. Since any agreements reached by the Law of the Sea Conference seem almost certain to safeguard the national rights to exploitation within national limits, there seems to be less reason for suspicion of marine research within such limits and no reason for any suppression even of geophysical data.
Refadanship
If ‘Soviet ocean activities’, US Committee
of Commerce 94th Congress. 1st Session. 30 April 7 976. inAnnotated bibliography of textbooks and reference matarials in marin@ sciences’ 1975.
12
(provisional w.fition). UNESCQ.
between hyd~ug~~~~y and oceanography
Hydrography is but one branch of the many interests and disciplines which interlock and overlap in ail aspects of the use of the sea or sea use planning. The contents of the latest bibliography of marine sciences oublished bv UNESC0*8 are classified under nine ‘Biological oceanography and categories; ‘General oceanography’, fisheries*, ‘Physicaf oceanography’, ‘Chemical oceanography’, ‘Marine geology and geophysics ‘, ‘Ocean engineering and technology’, ‘Pollution and radio-activity ‘, ‘Review books’ and ‘History - law of the’ sea and ocean affairs’. At a first glance, it might be thought that even such an informed
MARINE
PUtlCY
January
1977
Hydrographic services - basic charting vital to all sea users
publication had taken hydrography for granted, but a study of the annotated entries shows that almost all sections make reference to hydrography since. whatever one is planning (a holiday on land or sea, a building project, military operation, or any form of marine research). the common prerequisite is a map or chart. In establishing the minimum requirement for hydrography in a developing country, it might be helpful to consider the report” of a consultative meeting by UNESCO in Paris in November 1975 to study the original requirements for interdisciplinary marine research in the Persian Gulf. The aim of this meeting was to identify the particular needs of the various littoral states and the most appropriate contributions which each could make. Since there was overlapping between the four working groups, a summary of their recommendations was made and this provides a ccmprehensive indication of the competence of several UN agencies to assist and demonstrates not only the interdisciplinary nature of marine science but also the need for a multibased approach. The report states: ‘It is
best - all things
this functions strength quality
lies. The strength of training
can be assured
MARINE
POLICY
January
1977
The role of each of existing
facilities and educational
by governments:
maximising
facilities
institutions
are located’.
state
of the scientific contribution
and experience
related to the existing
t9’Marrne Sciences in the Gulf area’, UNESCO Technical Papers in Marine Science, No 26, UNESCO, 1976.
being equal - to butld on the already
satisfactorily.
is most
senior
important;
scientific
provided
on the field in which
of an institution
infrastructure;
here the degree
existing infrastructure,
will depend
staff, which (ii) the financial
of national
(iii) the environmental
its
will depend on (i) the
integration snuation
in turn will be resources
that
in sharing
and
in which
the
The report devotes 15 of its 66 pages to a review of hydrographical and productivity conditions in the region. The staff of any hydrographic office must therefore now cater for the needs not only of the sailor (be he in a 450 000 dwt tanker or a participant in a local sailing regatta), the fisherman and the commercial offshore operator, but also for the wide ranging interests of marine scientists. Where a national hydrographic office has been long established it can be adjusted in various ways to meet these rapidly changing requirements. In the USA, the USN Hydrographer has been retitled the Oceanographer of the Navy, and his staff has been increased and adjusted to enable the department to tackle all the wide aspects of national defence requirements in both hydrography and oceanography in close collaboration with a very wide range of other governmental departments and educational and other institutions. The role of the Soviet Hydrographer has already been mentioned. In the UK: the Lord Privy Seal has become responsible for coordinating al1 marine policy; the Natural Environment Research Council (with its Institutes of both Oceanographic and Geological Sciences), the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Scottish Marine Biological Association, University and Polytechnic faculties and other bodies and individuals combine with the Hydrographic Department of the Ministry of Defence which has, by and large, retained its traditional role. In all cases, the existing facilities and educational infrastructure must be considered in conjunction with the assessed national and regional needs. While duplication is to be avoided, the traditional roles of existing bodies must not be discarded lightly; rather, they should be
13
Hydrographic services - basic charting vital to aii sea userr
built up and coordinated in order to provide service in the most cost-effective way.
the requisite
national
As has been stated, all forms of hydrographic work are expensive, much more so than land surveying and mapping, in view of the capital and running costs of the vessels required. These vessels must be designed to give a stable pfatform in the worst weather conditions fikely to be encountered in the projected area of operations. Whife a fishing vessel huh is wet1 suited to many forms of oceanographic work. it may not be spacious or stable enough for gravity and precise depth measurements. Perhaps an ideal-size vessel for work within 200 miles of the coast is the UK’s commercially designed Coastal Survey Vessel ‘Bulldog’ Class. This. however, costs about f4M to build and equip and about f700 000 per year to operate and maintain. Such a cost is nevertheless small when compared with, say, that of a commercial or military aeroplane, or of motorway construction. Such a vessel may be expected to last for up to 25 years and to be operational for over 200 24-hour days each year.The cost coufd be reduced if a de&berate policy were adopted of cutting back on maintenance, but ali experience shows that this is very short-sighted and should never be accepted for any vessel required to seek out shallow waters or hidden dangers as a routine task, or where failure of equipment can negate the whole of a long research programme. Such a vessel could survey about 500 square nautical miles per year in compiicated shallow waters, or about 1000 square nautical miles per year of less complicated or deeper waters and, in both cases, more if it was not required to investigate and obtain the precise least depth of water over all wrecks and other obstructions. However, in view of the present requirements, such exacting standards should be the ruIe and not the exception, and the above areas may weft not always be achieved. Apart from the cost and length of time required to provide a suitable hull, there is the equally important and restricting factor of the essential training of the specialist personnel required. For hydrography in the traditional role. this involves long periods of practicat training in addition to theoretical knowledge: experience in recently developed hydrographic ofhces is that a period of at Ieast 8 to 10 years is required, with some amount of expatriate supervision before indigenous personnel have the all-round experience to assume complete command of a seagoing hydrographic unit. Recruits should be basically seamen with a Ieaning towards mathematics or the sciences. although land surveyors couid, over a similar period, develop a seamanship background. It is also possible to run a research vessel with a permanent crew of non-specialised seamen to operate and man the ship, with a small team of specialists borne for a particular aspect of each cruise. This is often done on marine-scientific cruises, but it is less acceptable for routine hydrographic work since decisions affecting the safety of the vessel when approaching unsurveyed and potentialfy dangerous areas should not be split between the captain or master of the vessel and the senior scientific specialist. A comprehensive hydrographic survey of a large area will also occupy a longer period than most other forms of
14
MARINE
POtiCY
January
1977
H~&ogrphic
2oOne example of such cooperative projects is the Joint Malacca Straits Hydrographic Survey IJMSS). a very successful cooperative survey of the Malacca and Stngapore Straits carried out by Indonesia. Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore to supplement the work carried out earlier by UK survey ships. Both the UN and the IHO helped in the initiation of this project. Rear Admiral Haslam, OBE, FRICS. FRIN. FRGS. MN/, was educated at Bromsgrove School. Worcestershire. Having joined the Royai Navv in 1941, he began to specialise as a hydrographic surveyor in 1944 and, between 1944 and f957, participated in surveys in many parts of the world. Between 1958 and 1973 he was in charge of surveys in command of HM Survey Ships ‘Dalrymple: ‘Dampier: ‘Owen’, ‘He&a’, and ‘Hydra: He has had various shore appointments in the UK Hydrographic Department and was Hydrographer of the Royal Australian Navy from 1965 to 1967. He has been Hydrographer of since the Navy September 1975. Rear Admiral Haslam written various articles for has hydrogra~hic and nav~gat~onaljournals.
MARlNE
POLICY
January
1977
services
-basic
charting vital to all sea users
marine data collection and the collection of hydrographic data for chart correction can best be likened to the work of an artist painting a picture: the work cannot be shared either consecutively or concurrently. If the ltydro~raphic specialist must be borne throughout a long cruise, it is uneconomic to have additional crew manning the vessel. In all countries, what is therefore urgently required is an assessment of the national effort needed to meet the needs for the future use of the sea and of their exclusive economic zones. Existing organisations should then be developed, or new organisations established. to provide these services, preferably in cooperation with countries having longer-established hydrographic facilities.*O During such cooperative projects, indigenous staff receive on-thespot training while contributing to the completion of the survey to the mutual benefit of all the littoral states and of international shipping, including that on passage through the area but not calling in any of the local ports. Resulting data are published not only by some, or all, of the participating countries but are made fully available to all agencies maintaining chart coverage of the area. In this article the back-up facilities needed ashore to support surveying operations afloat are not considered. Yet data collected are of little value unless published: data relevant to the safety of shipping must be disseminated immediately and the relevant charts amended by notices to mariners and correction of the master plates from which amended versions of the charts can be printed. The compilation, drafting. printing, distribution and correction of navigational charts is as specialised as the operation of the surveying ship: very careful study is needed before the establishment of a national office facility, which could be very uneconomic (in the case of a small chart series) or inefficient if regarded as a poor relation of a land mapping or scientific institution accustomed to handling quite different parameters. When a decision is taken to establish or expand a national hydrographic service. both the UN and the IHO will provide technical advice. The IHO is specifically intended to encourage international cooperation and collaboration between hydrographic offices and will and information on hydrographic procedures, supply advice standards to be employed both at sea and in chart compilation and production, and on the reporting system to be used in the international dissemination of navigational information. All maritime states should aim to have at least some ability to undertake surveys off their own coasts in order to reduce the risks of pollution and loss of life by the international mercantile fleets on which they must all depend and to expedite the economic exploitation of the untapped wealth of the oceans.
15