The Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) is the national authority responsible for delivering hydrographic products and services to meet the demands of the maritime community in line with national and international obligations. These international obligations are reflected in Australian domestic law under the Navigation Act 2012 and the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Act 2012.
Under agreements between governments, Australia is the Primary Charting Authority (PCA) for Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. The AHO is currently in the process of establishing a long-term agreement with the government of Timor-Leste to support and develop their hydrographic and charting activities.
A charting project consists of new products or significant changes to existing products , in either coverage, scale or purpose. These are planned tasks usually included as key AHO deliverables within Defence’s Portfolio Budget Statement (PBS). These include but are not limited to:
- Publishing new bathymetric data collected by HydroScheme Industry Partnership Program (HIPP).
- Enabling access to new ports or port infrastructure.
- Improving ENC content in port approaches and other critical navigational areas to enable safe navigation by larger or new type of vessels.
- Supporting ongoing requirements for PNG and the Solomon Islands as part of the Memorandums of Understanding.
- Addressing feedback from mariners, International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO), International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other stakeholders.
