THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502220011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
If a great nation aspired to mediocrity or worse, a good first step would be to stop charting the depths of its waterways.
Its mariners could rely on outdated charts, as did the Queen Elizabeth II, flagship of the Cunard Line, when it ran aground off the southern coast of Massachusetts in August 1992. According to its underwater maps, which were last updated in 1939, the mighty cruise vessel should have had 7 feet of water to spare. Whoops!
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is years behind in its water-charting duties. Already, according to a recent story by staff writer James Schultz, American mariners are beginning to rely on nautical charts produced by the British Admiralty in London, because some are newer than the NOAA ones.
And remember, things can always get worse.
As part of government restructuring, the NOAA wants to turn over to the private sector half of its task of surveying underwater hazards up and down the East and Gulf coasts and throughout the Great Lakes. By year's end, two of the four federal survey ships based in Norfolk will probably be mothballed.
``It's frightening,'' said Lorenzo Armory, president of the Virginia Pilot Association, whose members guide ships into and out of Hampton Roads. ``If they can't produce useful charts, we're going to be out of luck. This is just as critical for a recreational boater as it is for me on a 1,000-foot tanker loaded with 150,000 tons of coal.''
``We impose unlimited liability on (oil-carrying) vessels and then furnish them charts that are outdated,'' said James Provo, president of the National Association of Maritime Organizations, which represents marine interests. ``I think that's ludicrous. It's unreal, really.''
A NOAA official conceded the organization is far behind in mapping but said having the private sector make maps should help. The official said the private sector has better technology than NOAA. In a trial step, NOAA has hired a private firm to chart part of Long Island Sound. Should those maps prove worthy and cost-effective, more private firms would be hired.
But Armory and Provo recently met with NOAA Administrator James Baker to try to persuade him to keep all four Norfolk ships in service. Privatization of map-making might work, they said, but the quality of the maps could prove sub-standard, so hold off on mothballing ships.
If Armory and Provo are worried, we're worried, for water is Hampton Roads' lifeblood. The Navy didn't settle here for the air.
The universal metaphor for risk is ``uncharted waters.'' Corporations seek to avoid ``uncharted waters.'' So should boats and ships.
Once an oil tanker has rammed an uncharted obstacle and tens of thousands of gallons of goop have drifted onto beaches, it's too late to make a map. by CNB