1 eastern atlantic hydrographic commission (eathc) inter-regional coordination committee eathc...

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EASTERN ATLANTIC HYDROGRAPHIC COMMISSION (EAtHC)

INTER-REGIONAL COORDINATION COMMITTEE

EAtHC report IRCC7Mexico city, Mexico, 1-3

June 2015

Morocco 2014-2016

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Content Chair and Membership; Objectives; Meetings; Current EAtHC Working Groups; Main status of IRCC actions (relevant for the EAtHC); Achievements; Challenges faced/Perspectives; Conclusion and lessons learned.

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Chair

Chair: CAPT Abdelouahed DIHAJI (Morocco) since 19 September 2014.

Vice-Chair: According to the status of the EAtHC, the vice-chair is designated or elected at the opening of each conference, for the duration of the conference.

Membership

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Members: Cameroon, France, Morocco, Nigeria, Portugal, Spain. Associate members: Benin, Cape Verde, Congo (Rep. of), Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo.

Observers: Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, United Kingdom, United States of America Angola and IHB.G region

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Objectives Establish, coordinate and enhance cooperation in hydrographic activities amongst States on a regional basis, and between regions;

Establish co-operation to enhance the delivery of capacity building programs;

Monitor the work of specified IHO Inter-Organizational Bodies engaged in activities that require inter-regional cooperation and coordination;

Promote co-operation between pertinent regional organizations and review; Implement the IHO Capacity Building Strategy, promoting Capacity Building initiatives.

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Following EAtHC meetings have taken place:10th Meeting-Lomé, Togo (2-5 December 2008);11th Meeting-Accra, Ghana (24-26 November 2010);12th Meeting-Lisbon, Portugal (14-16 November 2012);13th Meeting-Casablanca, Morocco (16-18 September 2014);Next meeting: 14th EAtHC will take place on October 2016 (Date to be confirmed) in Cadiz, Spain.

Meetings

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Current EAtHC Working Groups

Region G International Charting Coordination Working Group (G-ICCWG) ; IHO-EU Network Working Group (EAtHC represented by France).

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Main status of IRCC actions

(relevant for the EAtHC)

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Candidatures of Mauritania and Sierra Leone have received the number of votes allowing them to become members, but the Government of Monaco has not yet received their instrument of accession;

Republic of Congo increased significantly its involvement in IHO regional activities by the signature of the Status of the Commission and recently informed the IHB and the EAtHC Chair about its intention to apply for IHO membership.(Letter of application to IHO membership sent to IHB, 22.05.2015).

Action IRCC6/02 : Continue to engage pending applicants in their region to encourage the

ratification of the IHO Convention.

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Following up the exchanges with the delegation of Senegal during the 13th Conference of the EAtHC then for the 5th Extraordinary International Hydrographic Conference, the IHO Executive Committee encourages the authorities of the Republic of Senegal to initiate appropriate steps and procedures to apply for IHO membership.

Action IRCC6/02 : Continue to engage pending applicants in their region to encourage the ratification of the IHO

Convention.

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Two observers from DRC attended the 5th Extraordinary International Hydrographic Conference, in Monaco 2014;

A specific letter will be sent by the EAtHC Chair to remind DRC to participate to 14th EAtHC meeting.

Action IRCC6/04 : Continue to engage suspended Member States (MSs) in their

region to encourage their re-admission to the IHO.

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GEBCO has been invited to the last EAtHC meeting in 2014 and a one of their representants has attended.

Action IRCC6/08 : Invite GEBCO Guiding Committee/Bathymetric Regional Project

Chairs to attend corresponding RHCs meetings

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This action enter in the launch of the definition study for a long term capacity building project with the beginning of the analysis part in order to design the main development axes of the regional project that will lead to concrete proposals with eventually funding perspective;

-MSI course was held in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) on 16-18th december 2014 ;

- A Circular letter has been sent to all EAtHC to gather propositions to adapt BSDB approch, about charing hydrographic information in the region.

Action IRCC6/23 : Report progress in the use of an Internet portal in the EAtHC region

aiming at sharing MSI information.

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All countries in the region are members/observers of EAtHC. 52% participation rate at the 13th EAtHC (Casablanca, 2014) despite of the Ebola crisis;

Increase participation of delegates [51 participants (37 in 12th EAtHC)] and the participation of 1 new observer (Angola).

Participation in the last EAtHC Conference

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A draft of memorandum of understanding between MOWCA and IHO prepared by France and MOWCA, was submitted on 25.05.2015 to IHB for aprobation by IHO MSs.

Cooperation with a regional organisations in the region

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Achievements Good participation of industry in the last conference; Series of successeful of capacity building events: - Maritime Safety Information course of IHO was held in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) on 16-18th december 2014 ; - The launch of the definition study for a long term capacity building project with the beginning of the analysis part (SWOT) in order to design the main development axes of the regional project that will lead to concrete proposals with eventually funding perspective; Ongoing category B training;

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Suggestion to setup a correspondence WG lead by Nigeria, in liaison with IOC, with the purpose:- Identify stakeholders/networks/sectors vulnerable to Marine Disasters issues;- Define a common framework in line with both IHO and IOC mandates; - Adopt a strategy to be used in a IHO-IOC awareness programme; - Organize an IHO-IOC regional workshop on marine disasters.

Achievements

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The challenges and Perspectives Lack of feedback regarding NAVAREA II Points of Contacts, and no points of contact at all for some coastal States. Deficiency of awareness of political deciders in the region on the importance of hydrography for the governance of their maritime space by increasing maritime co-activities; The need to enhance the data available in the region, for the benefit of national planning or for other applications, such as marine disasters prevention; Lack English knowledge by potential candidates before applying to IHO courses.

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A few coastal States have national hydrographic organizations. They mainly consist in hydrographic cells under the main port authority;

Concern for the setup of regional hydrographic course adapted to the needs of coastal States;

Difficulty, in some cases, to put into practice the training received, due to the lack of survey equipment;

Ports non-covered by large scale ENCs.

The challenges and Perspectives

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Monitoring and improving the status of nautical information, surveys, and charting, developing and implementing INT chart and ENC schemes;

Raising the awareness of the importance of hydrography in the Region and promoting capacity building.

The challenges and Perspectives

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The cooperation with any sub-regional maritime organization such as MOWCA remains very beneficial and promising, and this can surely improve and bring to successful results for developing the maritime strategy in the region.

Interest to develop regional hydrographic courses, based on existing African maritime academy;

Conclusion and lessons learned

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The regional coordination within the EAtHC always remains fruitful;

Need to address several uses, to take into account increasing concern of coastal States for management of resources, marine disasters prevention, protection of the environment and maritime security;

Conclusion and lessons learned

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The end

1 eastern atlantic hydrographic commission (eathc) inter-regional coordination committee eathc...

Documents

eathc chair

hydrographic activities

iho membership

iho regional activities

iho convention

iho capacity building

iho executive committee

g region