Seabed Mapping: Enabling Ocean Action - World Hydrography Day 2025
Published: 20/06/2025 - 10:28Seabed mapping supports all activities centred on the ocean, from safety of navigation to marine conservation, marine renewable energy, coastal resilience, and the ocean economy. This includes charting new shipping routes in polar regions to providing up-to-date data to improve climate change models.
This year’s theme for World Hydrography Day, “Seabed Mapping: Enabling Ocean Action,” highlights the importance of hydrographic data as a foundation for sustainable ocean use and effective ocean action.
To illustrate this message, the IHO has released a new video showcasing how ocean data supports critical decisions in a rapidly changing world.
This year’s WHD theme aligns with the IHO Strategic Plan and global initiatives, including the recently concluded 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), where numerous pledges were made to accelerate ocean action, share ocean data and mobilize all stakeholders. It also reflects the increasing global recognition that hydrographic data is essential to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The importance of hydrography was also reaffirmed in the political declaration of UNOC3, which emphasized the critical need for “...mapping of coastal and marine ecosystems, and of the ocean floor, as appropriate, to inform policy decisions, development planning, integrated coastal zone management, as well as conservation planning.”
As we continue to face unprecedented ocean challenges, seabed mapping shines as a vital tool to protect our oceans for generations to come and to support countries in working on their ocean goals.
World Hydrography Day (WHD) is celebrated by the global community every year on 21st June to raise awareness about the critical role hydrography plays in understanding, managing, and protecting our ocean.
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