Interview

6

Hydrographische  Nachrichten

I  want  nothing  less  than  all
the  physics  of  the  sea  chart«
An  academic  discussion  with  MATHIAS  JONAS*

Dr.  Mathias  Jonas  is  Vice  President  of  the  Federal  Maritime  and  Hydrographic  Agency.
The  55  year  old  National  Hydrographer  of  Germany  and  Managing  Director  of  the  department ­
  »Nautical  Hydrography«  is  responsible  for  national  activities  in  wreck  search,
sea  survey  and  the  issue  of  related  nautical  publications.  He  represents  those  tasks  in
various  organs  of  the  International  Maritime  Organization  (IMO)  and  the  International
Hydrographic  Organization  (IHO).  In  the  interview  with  Hydrographische  Nachrichten
the  expert  for  electronic  sea  charts  talks  about  his  preference  for  paper  and  about  the
future  of  the  printed  sea
National  Hydrographer  IHO  Baltic  Sea  |  S-100  |  universal  hydrographic  data  model
standards  |  sea  chart  |  paper  chart

chart.  And  he  believes
that  dealing  with  the
ocean  awakes  the  good
in  man.

The  interview  was  held  by
Lars  Schiller  and  Thomas
Dehling  September  23rd,
2016  at  the  Federal  Maritime
and  Hydrographic  Agency
(BSH)  in  Rostock
Translation  by  Verena
Eisemann

HN:  What  does  a  National  Hydrographer  do?  Are
there  any  clearly  defined  tasks?
Mathias  Jonas:  In  my  function  as  National  Hydrographer ­
  I  represent  the  National  Hydrographic
Office  of  the  Federal  Republic  of  Germany  within
the  IHO.
HN:  Does  the  German  National  Hydrographer
have  any  different  tasks  than  the  one  in  other
countries?
Jonas:  In  many  countries  the  head  of  the  Hydrographic
  Office  is  exclusively  responsible  for  cartographical ­
  issues  and  nautical  publications.  In
Germany,  there  are  more  tasks  like  surveying  and
the  supervision  of  the  fleet  as  we  do  not  charter
surveying  capacity  but  we  have  our  own  ships.  Insofar, ­
  I  have  guite  a  broad  field  of  issues  compared
toother  National  Hydrographers.
HN:  How  does  the  cooperation  with  the  hydrographers ­
  of  neighbouring  countries  work?
Jonas:  Our  bilateral  cooperation  is  good  and  we
coordinate  with  each  other  In  the  bodies  of  the
HO.  The  professional  exchange  is  great.  However,
the  Hydrographic  Offices  of  the  neighbouring
countries  are  organised  In  a
different  way.  In  Poland  and
in  the  Netherlands  for  example, ­
  they  belong  to  the  navy,
thus  they  are  not  part  of  a
civil  ministry.  Hydrographic
surveying  and  the  publication ­
  of  nautical  charts  by  the
navy  have  a  long  naval  tradition ­
  in  coastal  states  based
on  its  strategic  importance
for  the  case  of  operation.
Only  due  to  special  circumstances ­
  in  history,  hydrography ­
  has  become  part  of  civil
administration  in  comparatively  few  countries.  In
the  old  Federal  Republic  of  Germany  it  happened
after  World  War  II;  on  the  other  hand,  hydrography
in  the  former  GDR  remained  in  the  responsibility

»Hydrography  has  a  long
naval  tradition  based  on  Its
strategic  Importance  for  the
case  of  operation.  Only  due
to  special  circumstances  In
history,  hydrography  has
become  part  of  civil  administration ­
  In  comparatively  few
countries«

of  the  military  until  the  end.  In  Denmark,  the  Hydrographic ­
  Office  is  part  of  the  civil  administration;
however,  the  survey  units  are  military.  In  all  other
Scandinavian  countries  and  Baltic  States  it  Is  part
of  the  traffic  administration.  These  different  structures ­
  make  cooperation  across  borders  very  challenging. ­

HN:  Are  there  any  sensitive  issues  in  the  cooperation? ­

Jonas:  The  gas  pipeline  across  the  Baltic  Sea  has
a  certain  political  dimension  in  the  German-Polish
relationship.  Of  course,  hydrography  doesn't  play
a  main  role  in  the  political  process  of  the  pipeline,
nonetheless,  the  topographic  circumstances  have
to  be  clear.  Therefore,  it  is  very  important  that  nonpolitical ­
  professionals  remain  in  dialogue.  Even  In
times  when  the  project  was  politically  controversial, ­
  we  exchanged  data  and  helped  each  other
and  kept  us  informed.
HN:  Do  you  cooperate  with  our  French  neighbours ­
  as  well?
Jonas:  We  do  not  only  cultivate  our  regiona
neighbourhood,  but  also  the  bigger  one  in  Europe. ­
  For  this  purpose  we  founded  a  working
group  within  the  IHO  in  order  to  represent  the
Hydrographic  Offices  in  Europe  to  a  greater  extent. ­
  The  aim  Is  not  only  the  strengthening  of  our
position  In  terms  of  Ideation  but  also  materially
through  EU-funds.  France  has  a  lot  of  experience
in  using  EU-funds  for  projects  that's  why  we  aim
at  closer  cooperation.  We  have  launched  one
project  already:  Coastal  Mapping.  With  it  we  demonstrate ­
  how  high-resolution  capturing  of  offshore ­
  areas  on  both  sides  of  the  coastline  can  be
technically  improved.  In  a  following  project  based
on  the  first  one,  we  want  to  capture  the  bathymetry ­
  of  subseguent  waters  in  high  resolution  up  to
a  depth  of  10  metres.
HN:  What  is  a  special  feature  of  cooperation  in  the
Baltic  Sea  region?
Jonas:  The  Baltic  Sea  is  regarded  as  our  laboratory
for  marine  policy.  It  is  a  clearly  defined  geographic