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August 5, 2020

Hi everyone,

We just passed the halfway point of the summer season, which for many of us signals that the end of the fiscal year is approaching. It also means that planning for activities in FY21 has begun. One of the activities that I am working on is the annual Meso American-Caribbean Sea Hydrographic Commission (MACHC) meeting that will be held from November 30-December 4.

The MACHC is one of 14 Regional Hydrographic Commissions coordinating hydrographic activity and cooperation at the regional level through the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and includes 30 countries (15 members, 13 associate members, and two observers). OCS has long played a leadership role in this Commission and its working groups, and I now have the honor of chairing it. One of my responsibilities as MACHC chair is to host the 2020 meeting in the United States. Originally scheduled to take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, we are going virtual this year due to the pandemic. The silver lining is that a virtual meeting will allow more people to participate than under normal circumstances.

The meeting will focus on advancing MACHC objectives to: 1) ensure seamless regional electronic navigational chart coverage (an OCS objective is to make sure it fits with our reschemed charts) 2) increase capacity for all member states to provide the best quality navigation products and services and 3) make this invaluable, authoritative charting data available for many other non-navigation purposes such as marine protected area management, disaster response, scientific research and much more.

Another major initiative of the MACHC includes regional contributions to Seabed 2030, which seeks to map the world’s entire ocean floor as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). Check out the MACHC Seabed2030 web app that is developing a regional picture of what is currently mapped. Details on this and all the other exciting work of the MACHC can be found on the MACHC Initiative website.

Stay tuned for more details about the MACHC conference and opportunities to participate.

Katie Ries
Deputy Director, Office of Coast Survey


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