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41. Jahresbericht Deutsches Hydrographisches Institut 1986 
The work of the Seewarnzentrale was professionally supervised. 
The chart portfolio published 3 new charts, 96 new editions, 144 up-dated re 
prints, and 93 overlay blocks. Four nautical charts were withdrawn. The work for 
the International Chart Portfolio was efficiently continued. To that belong, amongst 
other things, the issue of three further INT charts of the German North Sea coast, 
and - as fundamental Federal German contribution to the International Chart 
Portfolio - the production of the International Chart No, 1 (INT 1) "Symbols, 
abbreviations, terms used on charts“. 
The point of main effort in the oceanographic work were current measurements in 
the Western Baltic Sea for the production of a Current Atlas, investigations con 
cerning mixing processes in seawater, and the presentation of a concept of the 
establishment of a Sea Motion Forecasting Service. For different national and 
international obligations of the DHI for monitoring the seawater for injurious 
impurities, the spatial distribution of harmful substances and radioactivity in the 
sea were investigated. Thereby, it was shown that the concentration of the insec 
ticide Lindane has doubled in the. North Sea since 1981, whereas at the same time 
the concentration of other organohalogenes (e. g. DDT) has receded. The radioac 
tivity in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea pursuant to the reactor accident in 
Chernobyl indicated only slight concentration owing to the effective dilution in 
seawater. 
Pursuant to the Ship Safety Regulations (SchSV) not only the type-testing of nauti 
cal systems, equipment, and instruments for the purpose of their approval for 
operation on board Federal German ships was continued, but also the granting of 
permits for the setting-up of the magnetic standard compass, the magnetic steer 
ing compass, the radio direction-finder system and the integrated navigational 
systems as well as the systems for installation of the position lights, accoustic 
signal systems and manoeuvering signal systems, and the testing of the systems 
and devices before their use on board ship. 
Hereby, it is clear that ever more new and modern technology asserts itself in the 
field of the nautical systems, pieces of equipment, and instruments: for example, 
by the application of the Rasterscan method in radar systems for the attainment of 
a significantly more intensive brightness of image, and by the employment of 
digital data processing and the laser technics in the gyrocompass systems in 
non-military vessels. 
However, the limits also become clear, when the automation of the ship operation 
no longer leads to the aspired relief of the personnel on the bridge but to a 
critically additional encumbrance for the ship’s safety. 
Over and above that, the supervision of the compliance with the Ship Safety 
Regulations on board continued to be controlled, and the supervision of the au 
thorized examiners and testing firms recognized by the DHI was continued in the 
normal way. 
For particular reasons, for a series of ships - on grounds of their particular type of 
construction or their utilization - exemptions from the rules of the International 
Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea were approved concerning the installa 
tion of the navigation lights and exceptions from the requirements of the Ship 
Safety Regulations were permitted insofar as a comparable safety of the ship was 
guaranteed in another manner. 
For prosecution of offences against the Ship Safety Regulations, numerous breach 
of administrative rule procedures and administrative enforcement proceedings 
were professionally prepared. 
For the preparation of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), 
participation in the international organisations IMO, ITU, and INMARSAT was 
continued.