Interview

8

Hydrographische  Nachrichten

Published  upto  now:
Horst  Hecht  (HN  82),
Holger  Klindt  (HN  83),
Joachim  Behrens  (HN  84),
Bernd  Jeuken  (HN  85),
Hans  Werner  Schenke  (HN  86),
Wilhelm  Weinrebe  (HN  87),
William  Heaps  (HN  88),
Christian  Maushake  (HN  89),
Monika  Breuch-Moritz  (HN90),
Dietmar  Grünreich  (HNg-1),
Peter  Gimpel  (HN  92),
Jörg  Sch  im  ml  er  (HN  93),
Delf  Egge  (HN  94),
Günther  Braun  (HN95),
Siegfried  Fahrentholz  (HN  96),
Günther  Braun,  Delf  Egge,  Ingo
Harre,  Horst  Hecht,  Wolfram
Kirchner  und  Hans-Friedrich
Neu  mann  (HN  97),
Werner  und  Andres  Nicola
(HN  98),
Soren  Themann  (HN99),
Peter  Ehlers  (HN  100),
Robvan  Ree  (HN  101),
DHyG-Beirat  (HN  102),
Walter  Offenborn  (H/V103),
Jens  Schneider  von  Deimling
(HN-104)

graphic  Agency  carries  that  title.  How  do  you  differ
between  nautical  hydrography  and  hydrography?
Jonas:  The  German  name  of  our  agency  is  »Bundesamt ­
  für  Seeschifffahrt  und  Hydrographie«.
»Seeschifffahrt«  means  maritime  traffic  or  shipping,
everyone  has  a  vague  idea  of  what  this  is.  However, ­
  the  German  term  >Hydrographie<  does  not  only
stand  for  the  department  »Nautical  Hydrography«
but  also  for  the  department  »Marine  Sciences«,  directed ­
  by  Dr.  Bernd  Brügge.  Therefore,  we  call  the
combination  of  hydrographic  surveying  and  nautical ­
  cartography  »nautical  hydrography«.
HN:  What  are  you  responsible  for  as  head  of  the
department  »Nautical  Hydrography«?
Jonas:  There  are  four  areas.  One  of  it  is  the  surveying ­
  ships  with  special  technology,  which  are  also
used  in  the  marine  sciences  for  monitoring  the  environment. ­
  Then,  the  entire  field  of  hydrographic
surveying  including  marine  geodesy,  Thomas
Dehling  is  head  ofthat  department.  Another  one
is  cartography,  which  is  information  processing  for
obtaining  a  certain  product.  Finally,  graphic  technology ­
  with  two  big  offset  printing  machines.  All
in  all,  230  employees  work  in  these  four  areas.  In
comparison  to  other  departments  in  this  building
they  are  part  of  a  common  production.  Collecting ­
  data,  processing  and  interpreting  them  and
finally  manufacturing  the  product.  Only  selling
the  charts,  books  and  data  sets  is  not  our  issue.  My
experience  is  that  this  special  working  process  has
a  positive  influence  on  the  social  and  professiona
cooperation.
HN:  How  do  you  share  the  work  with  President
Mrs  Breuch-Moritz?
Jonas:  The  entire  responsibility  remains  with  the
President  of  course.  She  gave  me  the  task  to  represent ­
  all  guestion  regarding  hydrography.  In  the
daily  working  routine  we  take  decisions  with  the
heads  of  all  four  departments.
HN:  Let's  look  back  in  time.  At  the  end  of  the  1970s
you  began  as  merchant  seaman. ­
  After  the  Service  at  the
Armed  Forces  of  the  German ­
  Democratic  Republic
you  studied  Nautical  Engineering. ­
  What  attracted  you
to  the  sea  in  younger  years?
Jonas:  I  could  answer  that
being  born  and  raised  in
Rostock,  a  sea-related  job  is
inevitable.  I  could  also  tel
you  about  our  family  tradition. ­
  One  of  my  ancestors,
Olerich  Gottfried  Jonas,  moved  from  the  island  of
Usedom  to  the  formerly  Hanseatic  city  Anklam  in
order  to  become  a  fisherman.  All  other  descendants ­
  were  fishermen  too,  except  my  grandfather
and  father,  who  were  heating  engineers.  However,
all  these  answers  are  not  really  true  because  as  a
child  I  surely  didn't  see  it  this  way.  I  guess  I  was  a
romantic  person  who  wanted  to  travel  the  world.
That  wasn't  so  easy  in  the  former  GDR.  Seafaring

»The  Baltic  Sea  is  regarded
as  laboratory  for  marine
policy.  It  is  a  clearly  defined
geographic  territory,  which
is  prone  to  high  user  pressure
with  very  differing  national
interests  at  the  same  time«

was  definitely  the  only  possibility  to  leave  the
country  legally  and  see  the  world.  I  chose  the  job
according  to  my  desire.
HN:  In  the  end  you  didn't  spent  too  much  time  on
board  of  ships.  Instead  you  went  to  the  Maritime
Academy  of  Rostock-Warnemünde.
Jonas:  Counting  all  seafaring  days  together  I  spent
guite  a  few  years  on  merchant  ships.  For  the  Federal ­
  Maritime  and  Hydrographic  Agency  I  was
head  of  mission  on  the  »Gauss«  a  couple  of  times.
Spending  your  life  on  sea  is  a  very  special  life  plan.
You  must  be  the  type  of  person  for  it  and  do  without ­
  social  relations.  I  admit  that  this  was  very  hard
for  me.
HN:  What  did  you  do  at  the  Universities  of  Rostock
and  Hamburg?
Jonas:  In  Rostock  I  was  scientific  assistant  and
taught  navigation  at  the  radar  simulator,  but
mainly  I  was  involved  in  research  projects.  We  invented ­
  the  first  computer-based  assistant  system
for  ships,  for  example  the  advance  calculation  of
man-over-board  rescue  manoeuvre.  From  today's
point  of  view  it  sounds  guite  simple,  but  at  that
time  it  was  new.  We  were  really  successful  and  the
former  company  Krupp  Atlas  took  over  our  product ­
  -  that  was  still  before  the  German  reunification. ­
  On  a  specialist  trade  fair  in  Southampton  we
received  an  award.  After  the  reunification  Professor ­
  Jens  Froese,  who  was  head  of  SUSAN  at  that
time,  looked  for  young  people,  also  in  Rostock,
with  new  ideas  and  ambition.  That's  how  I  came  to
ISSUS  at  Hamburg  University  of  Applied  Sciences.
There  I  continued  to  develop  user  interfaces  for  integrated ­
  navigation  systems.
HN:  How  did  you  come  to  the  Federal  Maritime
and  Hydrographic  Agency?
Jonas:  In  September  1993,  on  behalf  of  Professor ­
  Froese  I  took  part  in  a  presentation  on  a  study
about  the  feasibility  of  future  integrated  navigation ­
  systems.  During  the  following  discussion
mentioned  fervently  our  research  on  that  topic  at
ISSUS.  A  few  weeks  later,  at  the  beginning  of  1994,
was  employed  for  electronic  sea  charts.  Right  at
that  time  a  Russian  company  wanted  to  offer  an
electronic  sea  chart  on  the  German  market.  I  was
just  in  time  with  my  computer  knowledge  and
nautical  background.  Four  weeks  later,  I  went  to
London  to  participate  in  a  working  group  on  that
topic.
HN:  So,  you  would  say  that  it  was  a  gradual  approach ­
  to  hydrography?
Jonas:  Yes,  indeed.  I  was  responsible  for  the  lega
type  approval  of  electronic  chart  systems.  For  almost ­
  nine  years  I  worked  in  this  sector,  which  encompassed ­
  the  technical  check  of  electronic  sea
chart  systems,  satellite  navigation  receiver  and
integrated  navigation  systems.  All  that  offered  a
good  basis  for  switching  to  hydrography  in  2004.
HN:  In  a  press  release  of  the  Federal  Maritime  and
Hydrographic  Agency  it  says  that  you  are  a  professional ­
  for  »digital  hydrography«.  What  does  it
mean?