News And Events

Chittagong, 21 June 2015: Bangladesh observed World Hydrography Day on 21 June with an aim to highlighting the importance of Hydrography. World Hydrography Day is the opportunity to increase public awareness of the vital role that hydrography plays in everyone’s life. This year the theme of the day is; “Our seas and waterways – yet to be fully charted and explored”.

Bangladesh is one of the active members of IHO and Navy acts as the focal point of all hydrographic matters in the sea area of Bangladesh. To commemorate the day, Bangladesh Navy organized a seminar at Chittagong naval area where representatives from different ministries and maritime stake holders, members of the National Hydrographic Committee and armed forces personnel were present. Commander Chittagong Naval Area, Rear Admiral Akhtar Habib , NGP, ndc, ncc, psc; graced the seminar as chief guest and Director Hydrography of Bangladesh Navy, Captain Mir Imdadul Haque, (H), ndc, psc, BN delivered the keynote speech. Different important issues covering the requirement of innovative supplementary data gathering initiatives for blue economy such as seaborne trade and commerce, resource exploration and exploitation, ocean science and observation, defence and security etc were highlighted and the importance of hydrography in support of those activities were discussed.

The seas and oceans are now acknowledged as major contributors to the world economy and over 90% of the world’s trade travels through sea. The greatest challenge for a seafarer is to minimize the maritime accident due to the limited knowledge about the hazards lying along the way. In the context the basic premise of hydrography is to provide essential information to the mariners about the safe water ways through nautical charts and publications. Besides knowledge on the shape and the depth of the seafloor have a significant impact on how sea level rise, storm and tsunamis affect the coastline. Moreover, hydrography plays a vital role in pursuing the activities like oil/gas exploration, dredging activities, offshore construction, cables & pipelines laying, telecommunications, weather & climate science, environmental monitoring, aquaculture, mineral resources, energy, biomedicine, ocean science and observation etc.

As a small maritime nation, Bangladesh maintains quality hydrographic services to ensure her waters safe for the mariners. BN hydrographic products have always been praised by the international community. Today mariners feel safe in Bangladesh waters and maritime trades are being promoted. Furthermore, to keep pace with the upcoming demand of world shipping, Bangladesh is in a process to create Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) of her waters and endorse them in world market. So, the necessity of hydrographic services will be felt more in days to come.