international hydrographic organization 2003 - IHO

9
SOUTHERN AFRICA AND ISLANDS HYDROGRAPHIC COMMISSION (SAIHC)
Chairperson:
Members:
Associate Members:
Captain A. KAMPFER (South Africa)
France, Norway, Republic of South Africa, UK
Angola, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia,
Portugal, Seychelles, Tanzania.
Observers:
Last Meeting: Swakopmund, Namibia, 25-26/9/03
Next Meeting: Mauritius, 11 or 12/04
The 4 th meeting of the SAIHC was held 25-26 September 2003 in Swakopmund, Namibia. The
meeting was hosted by Namport located in nearby Walvis Bay. Namport, the national port authority
for Namibia, has been designated by the Namibian Government
as their point of contact for hydrographic matters. The meeting
was chaired by Mr. Albano GOVE of Mozambique. Present at
the meeting were representatives of Member States: South
Africa, led by the newly appointed Hydrographer of the South
African Navy, Captain Aubry KAMPFER, Mr. JAMES of
Mozambique, Mr. LANGVIK of Norway, Ing. en Chef LE
GOUIC of France and Mr. Gordon TAYLOR of the United
Kingdom. Associate members - Malawi, Angola, Namibia, and
Kenya - were present. Also present were Rear Admiral
BARBOR, IHB; Councilor Adelheid KANDJALA, Deputy
Mayor of Walvis Bay and Councilor Hafeni NDEMULA of the
Erongo Region.
Mr. Albano GOVE opened the meeting by highlighting two
current initiatives of the IHO – the Strategic Planning Working
Group and the IHO Capacity Building Committee. In each case,
the IHO is looking to the Regional Hydrographic Commissions
to provide leadership and constructive input in formulating effective solutions to issues such as the
governance of the Organization and proactively meeting the obligations under SOLAS V.
Admiral BARBOR spoke to the three watershed events that have occurred since the last meeting of
this Commission:
1) The coming into force of SOLAS V obligating coastal states to provide for the collection
of hydrographic data and the publishing and keeping up to date of nautical information;
2) The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development that should focus projects
of this region and should include hydrography as a fundamental component of sustainable
development; and
3) The filing before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf the Russian
Federation extended claim of their continental margins. These events demonstrate the
importance of hydrography and the obligations of coastal states to provide for the
collection, dissemination and updating of nautical information.
The Chairman expertly navigated the agenda calling on countries to present their National Reports and
the IHB to report on its workings and, in particular, the status of the work of the SPWG.
RESON, CARIS and C-MAP provided excellent presentations on how they can partner with
Hydrographic Offices to improve the efficiency of data collection, data processing and the production
of nautical charts and information.