UK Hydrographic Office supports Montserrat authorities with seabed mapping data survey

For this project, funded by the UK’s Conflict, Security and Stability Fund (CSSF), the UKHO worked alongside the Montserrat Hydrographic Survey Team to collect data from the waters around the island. This information can be used to assist with inundation mapping, which supports disaster resilience and planning, as well as by environmental departments to update habitat maps and the Royal Navy for relief efforts.

The UKHO data survey team returned to the UK in early September after spending four weeks gathering information from Montserrat’s nearby waters. The team will now validate the data, before updating any of its navigational products that cover the waters around Montserrat.

The seabed mapping data survey is the latest in a series of projects where the UKHO, through its Overseas Territories Seabed Mapping Programme (OTSMP) has collaborated with authorities in Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory. During the past six years, the OTSMP supported local authorities to improve their compliance with international maritime obligations and provided equipment and expertise to undertake seabed mapping surveys.

This latest survey is one of the three workstreams that the UKHO and Montserrat Hydrographic Survey Team have worked on in the 2022/23 financial year. They are also carrying out a Hydrographic Action Plan Review and installing a Marine Environmental Monitoring Station.