Chairman of the Federation is Paul Hornsby, Director of Navy Improvement Strategies for the Royal Australian Navy who also heads the Australasian Hydrographic Society. Other elected officials are William Heaps, Port Hydrographer of ABP Southampton, as ViceChairman, and Dr Victor Abbott, Senior Lecturer, Hydrographic Surveying at Plymouth University's School of Earth, Ocean & Environmental Sciences, as Treasurer; Helen Atkinson, Operations & Publications Manager of the former Hydrographic Society, is Company Secretary and David Goodfellow an ex-officio member.

Announcing the Federation's establishment at the Hydro4 international symposium in Galway earlier this month, Paul Hornsby said that the new organisation, with its diverse membership drawn from individuals and companies as well as major maritime authorities and institutions, would make a decisive contribution to global hydrographic practices and their continuing development;

it would also, he added, complement activities of other recognised bodies such as the International Hydrographic Organisation in Monaco and FIG Commission 4 for Hydrography.

The Federation's headquarters are based at PO Box 103, Plymouth PL4 7YP .Tel-Fax: 01752 223512 or www. hydrographicsociety. org