1. Report by the IHO Secretariat
16th Meeting of the Meso-America and Caribbean Sea Hydrographic Commission
Report by the IHO Secretariat

2. Ratification of Protocol of Amendments on IHO Convention
April Assembly-1
3-yearly operational/planning cycle
Council will be established – meeting annually
Voting: based on a majority of those casting a vote
No answer means … not counted
Changes in election process for Secretary-General and Directors
UN MS eligible to join IHO without requirement for IHO MS approval process
no waiting period

3. St Vincent and the Grenadines
Regional States not yet MS of the IHO …
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Costa Rica
Dominica
El Salvador
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
… now eligible to join IHO without requirement for IHO MS voting process

4. Action requested:
Encourage all coastal States in the region to join the MACHC and the IHO

5. International Charting Coordination
See also agenda item 7

6. International Charting Coordination
Date that requirements for ECDIS back-up arrangements using paper charts were last provided to IHO Secretariat
Antigua and Barbuda
No information provided to IHO Secretariat
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Brazil
September 2015
Colombia
April 2007
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
France
September 2014
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Panama
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago UK
USA
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
IHO Inventory of national regulations on ECDIS back- up arrangements using paper charts (see Annex A)

7. International Charting Coordination
Action requested:
Review Annex A (inventory of ECDIS back-up arrangements) and provide updates/information to Secretariat as soon as possible

8. Assessment of Regional Hydrographic Capability
IHO Secretariat assessment to be presented to next meeting of the Caribbean MoU – February 2017
Highlighting:
Maritime Administration responsibilities - SOLAS V/9
MSI - shortcomings in service delivery
Limitations and impact in charting and survey coverage

9. Regional Hydrographic Capability - MSI
Based on NAVAREA Coordinators’ reports and statistics
MSI performance is variable
Good performance reports for:
Colombia, Curaçao, French Guiana, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago

10. Regional Hydrographic Capability - MSI
Following States are of concern with respect to delivery of MSI:
Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Suriname
Action Requested:
Relevant States to review Annex C (MSI training outcomes) and report to the Chair of MACHC any obstacles and challenges that are impeding the establishment of an effective MSI capacity

11. Regional Hydrographic Capability - Surveys

12. Action requested:
Review Annex B (hydrographic status report) and provide comments to Secretariat as soon as possible

13. Capacity Building See agenda item 10
What capacity building does your country need ?
Prepare your candidates well in advance

14. IHO GIS and Databases avoid duplication of data and inputs
enable data visualisation
enable data fusion and analysis
provide GIS data layers for RHCs and Member States

15. IHO GIS and data base developments
Country Information Data base
Is your data up-to-date in the Year Book / data base ?
“C-55” data base
Is your data up-to-date in the C-55 data base ?
INToGIS database
INT chart coverage
ENC catalogue

16. IHO GIS and Databases - C-55 …..
Action requested:
Countries to review Annex D (list of last updates) and their entry in C-55 and provide the IHO Secretariat with the appropriate updates or to report no change

17. Crowd-Sourced Bathymetry (CSB) programme
Low cost – high impact
Based on IHO Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry (DCDB)
commercial and community-based options
Starting 2018
Mariners’ self-help programme
Aim: Logger in every professionally crewed ship

18. Crowd-Sourced Bathymetry
CSB is not new to HO’s
Passage Sounding … is crowd-sourced data
The General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean (GEBCO) project … is crowd-sourced data
hydrographic notes … are crowd-sourced data

19. Crowd-Sourced Bathymetry
Draft IHO guidelines to be circulated shortly
DCDB portal being upgraded
Data upload and download
Data discovery
Scientific and commercial sensitivity will be respected
CSB data is NOT specifically intended for charting

20. Crowd-Sourced Bathymetry
Potential uses:
Tsunami, storm surge and flood inundation modelling
Coastal zone management
Cable and pipeline route planning and optimization
Water circulation studies
Fish stocks and migration – fisheries management
Aquaculture
…..

21. Crowd-Sourced Bathymetry
Could also be useful for:
Chart verification / validation
Chart scheming
….. And sometimes inclusion in charts

22. IHO Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry
near real-time update, viewing or download by public for general purposes
IHO viewer and data download
Crowd-sourced data
data uploaded at mariners’ convenience
(alert triggered by mariner when relevant)
new or revised chart
data search as part of normal chart updating cycle
IHO Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry

23. Existing data density for publicly available data
Coastal waters in most States include large areas that are inadequately surveyed (see C-55 and Annex B)

24. Publicity and Outreach
States encouraged to link hydrography to UN post-2015 development agenda
particularly:
sustainable development goals
SDG 14 – use of the oceans
disaster risk reduction
UN Conference on SDG 14 - UNHQ June 5-9
Promote hydrography as part of wider oceans programmes

25. Publicity and Outreach
World Hydrography Day 2017 Theme : Mapping our seas, oceans and waterways - more important than ever
Promoting:
Our roles and responsibilities
The fundamental importance of hydrographic data
Crowd-Sourced Bathymetry
Data mining and data discovery
Satellite Derived bathymetry
MSDI

26. Publicity and Outreach
video clips “what is hydrography ?”
available from You Tube via IHO website
in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean
Next video: “ … become a hydrographer ”

27. IHO Assembly 24 to 28 April in Monaco
On-line registration: 2-step process
Review and adoption of:
Strategic Plan, 3-year WP and budget
Committee reports on progress and plans for future
Proposals from Member States
Election of S-G and Directors
Establishment of the Council

28. IHO Council annual meetings in October
20 Council seats allocated to the regions, but a country - not a region, occupies the allocated seat(s)
no substitutes or changeovers during the inter- Assembly period
most proposals will be considered by the Council before being presented to all Member States for voting
Council will approve annual budget and work programme

29. Selection of States to occupy the seats allocated to the MACHC
2 Seats allocated to MACHC
Countries eligible to occupy seats allocated to MACHC are:
Brazil
Netherlands
Cuba
Suriname
Guatemala
Trinidad and Tobago
Jamaica UK
Mexico
Venezuela

30. Actions requested : MACHC to note this report
Encourage all coastal States in the region to join the MACHC and the IHO
Review the status presented at Annex C and report obstacles and challenges for the establishment of an effective MSI capacity
Review entries related to IHO C-55, P-5 (Yearbook) and ECDIS back up arrangements and report any changes or update to the IHO Secretariat

31. Actions requested :
Provide continuous updates to S-11 Part B for INT Region B through the INToGIS tool and implement the procedure depicted in IHO CL 64/2015 for the review and monitoring of INT charts
MICC to provide the IHO Secretariat with basic metadata on the status and description of the ENC schemes in the Region
Consider appropriate arrangements to prepare for the IHO Assembly to be held in April 2017
Take any other actions as considered appropriate