Portugal takes over the Eastern Atlantic Hydrographic Commission

An additional meeting of the Eastern Atlantic Hydrographic Commission (CHATO) of the International Hydrographic Organization (OHI). This time, due to the pandemic, this non-plenary meeting took place in the form of video conferencing. The next plenary session, the sixteenth, was postponed to April 2021 in Lisbon and, if possible, will take place in person.

The CHATO is composed of the IHO Member States which are bathed in the Eastern Atlantic, Cameroon, France, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Portugal and Spain and have as associated the other coastal states of the region and other external states with interest/responsibility in the region.

At this work meeting, several points were held concerning the safety of navigation and the knowledge and sustainability of the ocean, highlighting:

the interests of the region in matters, committees, council and assembly of OHI;

international cartographic coordination in the region, where matters related to international nautical cartography coverage (in paper and electronic formats), coverage and/or current information failures are coordinated, deciding on actions to be taken in order to increase navigation security and promote coordination between the various countries of the region;

the needs and state of maritime safety information systems in the region and the coordination of the dissemination of information necessary to ensure the safety of navigation;

the marine geospatial data infrastructure in the region, the sharing and dissemination of information;

planning and promoting actions to train and train new technologies and countries without established hydrographic services;

The relevance of hydrography in the region.

At the end of the work meeting, Rear Admiral Carlos Ventura Soares, Director General of the Hydrographic Institute (IH) and National Hydrographer, was elected President CHATO for the next two years.

In his speech of inauguration, the Director-General of the Hydrographic Institute thanked Nigeria for the passage of testimony, highlighted the honour of the election and requested the collaboration of all the states present at the Commission in order to represent it as best as possible in the bodies of OHI, as well as in the essential promotion in terms of training and safety of navigation.