Dear Hydrographer,
Please find attached herewith :
CL 33/2017 : INITIATION OF AN INFORMAL CONSULTATION PROCESS ON IHO
PUBLICATION S-23
Yours sincerely,
IHO
M.MOLLET
IHO File NoS3/7020 CIRCULAR LETTER 33/2017
02 May 2017
INITIATION OF AN INFORMAL CONSULTATION PROCESS
ON IHO PUBLICATION S-23
References:
A. IHO Assembly document A.1/MISC/03 – List of Decisions of the 1st Session of the IHO
Assembly
B. IHO Publication S-23 – Limits of Oceans and Seas, third edition - 1953
Dear Hydrographer,
1. Decision 4 of the First Assembly of the IHO (see Reference A) “... tasked the Secretary-General
to facilitate an informal consultation process regarding the future of S-23 among interested Member
States, including determining mutually agreed modalities of work and to report the result of the
consultations to the Assembly at the next ordinary session (A-2).”
2. Member States are invited to indicate their interest in participating in the informal consultation
process.
3. In considering whether to participate in the informal consultation process, Member States should
bear in mind that:
a. The IHO has a consultative and technical nature.
b. The IHO is NOT a naming authority.
c. As stated in the preface to the current edition of S-23 (Reference B), the limits and text
shown in the publication “... have been drawn up solely for the convenience of national
Hydrographic Offices when compiling their Sailing Directions, Notices to Mariners, etc.
so as to ensure that all such publications headed with the name of an Ocean or Sea will
deal with the same area, and they are not to be regarded as representing the results of full
geographic study; ...”; and
“... These limits have no political significance whatsoever.”
4. Interested Member States are requested to respond to the IHO Secretariat at
[email protected]
no later than 30 June 2017, indicating briefly the purpose of their participation and the single point of
contact for informal consultations on the future of S-23.
Yours sincerely,
Robert WARD
Secretary-General
Mapping our Seas, Oceans and Waterways - more important than ever