Members of the Society are regularly involved in a number of associated forums. The focus of these include peer assessment, professional committees and industry associated conferences. Currently these include the Australasian Hydrographic Surveying Certification Panel (AHSCP), the SSI Land and Hydrographic Commission and the Trans Tasman Hydrographic Commission (TTHC).
Details of these committees and others with which the AHS is currently involved are noted below:

AUSTRALASIAN HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYING CERTIFICATION PANEL

Chair: Hydrographer, RAN - Captain Rod Nairn RAN
Members: Peter Barr, Simon Ironside, Gareth Jones, John McCarthy, Gareth Cann.

In May-June 1994, as a result of several years of representations by Hydrographic Society members, an election was carried out among the Hydrographic community, under the direction of the Institution of Surveyors Australia (ISA), to elect members of a national accreditation body. On 04 August 1994 the five members elected met for the first time under the ex-Officio Chairman, the Hydrographer, RAN. It was decided that the body be called the "Australian Hydrographic Surveyors Panel", (AHSP). In 1997 the panel was renamed the "Australian Hydrographic Surveyors Accreditation Panel", (AHSAP). In about 2003 the ISA was restructured as the Spacial Sciences Institute (SSI). Since April 2005, the Panel has been renamed as the Australasian Hydrographic Surveying Certification Panel (AHSCP) and it continues to assess qualifications but now under the joint auspices of the Spatial Sciences Institute (SSI) and the NZIS. Composition of the Panel remains unchanged.

The AHSCP holds meetings on a quarterly basis through tele-conferences and with a face-to-face meeting annually.

Certified Hydrographic Surveyors

The AHSCP is now jointly sponsored by the SSI/ISA and NZIS, has certified a total of 108 individuals to date. Of these 83 have been certified at Level 1 and 25 at Level 2.

Register of Certified Hydrographic Surveyors

The SSI National Headquarters in Canberra maintains a Register of Certified Hydrographic Surveyors. Membership of SSI has to be current in order for a certified individual to maintain his/her name on the Register. The SSI issues Certification Certificates to certified individuals who are members of the Institution.

An individual (who is not an existing SSI member) and wishes to has his/her name on the Register is required to take up membership of the SSI within a year of being certified as a hydrographic surveyor.

A copy of the list of Members who are accredited as hydrographic surveyors (as per the Register) can be found on the list on this page.
Application Forms and details of the guidelines and accreditation requirements, which have recently been revised, can be obtained from:

www.spatialsciences.org.au
or
www.surveyors.org.nz/hydrographic.asp
or
www.isaust.org.au/grouphydrography [currently under revision]

* According to ANTA terminology:
Accreditation - the formal recognition of a course by the state or territory course accrediting body…
Certification - the formal acknowledgement of successful achievement of a defined set of outcomes

Further Information

Application Forms and details of the guidelines and certification requirements can be obtained from:

The Secretary (Jasbir Randhawa),
Australasian Hydrographic Surveying Certification Panel (AHSCP)
c/- Locked Bag 8801, South Coast Mail Centre, NSW 2521, Australia

Phone: +61 2 4221 8672;
Fax: +61 2 4221 8599;
E-mail: Jasbir.Randhawa@defence.gov.au