Dhaka, 21 June 2023: Bangladesh as a Member State of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), celebrates World Hydrography Day on 21st June every year. This year the theme of the day is “Hydrography: Underpinning the Digital Twin of the Ocean”. Hydrography is a key scientific component to create the Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO). Combining the power of hydrographic data with innovative technologies, the DTO will assist in better understanding of our oceans. The DTO provides a platform for simulating various scenarios on the ocean, enabling the evaluation of potential impacts of human activities, climate change and natural disasters.
To commemorate the day, a seminar was arranged on 21st Jun 2023 by Bangladesh Navy at Bangabandhu Military Museum, Dhaka. Hon’ble State Minister, Ministry of Shipping, Mr. Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, MP and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Shaheen Iqbal, NBP, NUP, ndc, afwc, psc graced the occasion as Chief Guest and Special Guest respectively. The heads of various organizations, divisions and departments of National Hydrographic Committee, representatives of concerned ministries and agencies and maritime stakeholders attended the seminar. Professionals and academicians in the hydrographic and oceanographic sectors delivered seminar papers on DTO, various scientific aspects of Ocean Conservation, Hydrographic Cooperation and Blue Economy.
Bangladesh ascended as the 70th Member State of the IHO on 2nd July 2001. Bangladesh Navy represents the country at the IHO and is responsible for the hydrographic survey and nautical chart production of maritime areas since 1983. For many years, Bangladesh Navy has been producing international standard nautical charts in adherence to IHO standards. With a high merit of professionalism, Bangladesh Navy has already published all the required nautical charts including International Series (INT) paper charts, and Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) for the sea area of Bangladesh which are accepted by the national and international marine communities, and distributed worldwide for ensuring safe navigation. Hydrographic data has important impact on all human activities at sea, such as resource exploitation, fishing, minerals exploration, environmental protection and management, maritime boundary delimitation, national Marine Spatial Data Infrastructures (MSDI), recreational marine activities, maritime defence and security, tsunami flood and inundation modelling, coastal zone management, marine tourism and marine science etc.
By celebrating World Hydrography Day, sharing of knowledge, technologies and best practices will lead to enhance national hydrographic cooperation among the stakeholders and significantly contribute to gather the science we need for the ocean we want.
