Welcome to a special edition of the International Hydrographic Review (IHR). This edition comprises Articles and Notes submitted by members of the Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission (BSHC). This edition has also been published one month earlier than usual to be available for the 5th EIHC.
The BSHC requested the opportunity to publish a special edition and the support of the individual authors representing many of the HOs and affiliated agencies has been outstanding. I believe the content of this edition provides an excellent example for how other regional hydrographic commissions can learn from one another and cooperate. The issues facing most HOs are similar and sharing of knowledge is paramount in this climate of reducing budgets and staffing, expectations to do more with less, etc. It is through such cooperation by HOs supported by the guidance of the IHB that enables the hydrographic community to maintain excellence in hydrographic and geospatial information.
This edition would not have been possible without the help of Mr. Juha Korhonen from Finland. Juha rallied the authors and kept them accountable to ensure the papers were submitted within the tighter timelines than usual. I hope that other RHCs will see the benefit of undertaking similar ventures and I look forward to seeing further special RHC editions in the future.
This Edition will also be my last as Editor. I am stepping down from this role due to increased work and family responsibilities. It has been a wonderful experience and I have enjoyed cooperating with the many authors to publish their contributions. I would also like to thank the Editorial Board for their support, IHB Directing Committee (past and present) for their oversight and in particular the publishing team at the IHB.
Ian W. Halls
Editor
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I have participated in the Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission (BSHC) Conferences since 2001 and it is always a great pleasure and honour to be a part of such a cooperative and productive community. The benefits and the successful work of the Commission has been proven by a number of activities and projects, just to name some of them – Baltic Sea Re-Survey Scheme, Harmonisation of Baltic Sea ENCs, Baltic Sea Depth Model, harmonisation of vertical references, INT Chart Scheme, MSDI activities and others.
Such a number of activities and tasks require a lot of human and technical resources. Therefore the activities seem to be slower and longer, however we are confident that substantial progress is achieved and we are on the right track. Working in a truly friendly and cooperative manner and concentrating on technical issues only, the BSHC has managed to improve the excellence and proficiency of participating HOs by sharing the experiences, best practices and knowledge. Most of the BSHC activities and tasks are long term issues therefore I am sure that progress will continue in a friendly and cooperative spirit and we have a lot to achieve in order to improve the safety of shipping.
Over the last decade the use of hydrographic data is steadily growing and demand for high quality data is substantially increasing as exploration of world oceans develops further. Several international, regional and local activities, policies and initiatives will foster demand for standardised high quality data and services covering not only territories of one particular state but even larger areas than the Baltic Sea. Such data and services can be obtained by close cooperation among the states and respective HOs. The BSHC over the years have proven that such cooperation is not a dream – it is feasible and realistic. The future challenge for the BSHC will be to maintain excellence and proficiency in cooperation and to be at least a small step ahead of future development.
This IHR Baltic Sea Edition is an excellent opportunity to provide information on the work in progress, achievements and future plans to the wider community and prepare grounds for cooperation with other regions.
Jānis Krastinš
Chair, Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission (BSHC)
On behalf of the Editorial Board and the BSHC, Jānis and I hope that this edition is of interest to you. Thank you to the authors for your contributions and to our colleagues who provided peer reviews for the articles in this edition.
