Eighteen university students attended a training programme on hydrography and marine geospatial information at the Sri Lanka National Hydrographic Office (SLNHO) in Colombo on 27 October.
The group comprised 14 students from the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries at Wayamba University and four from the Department of Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University.
What was covered
Lectures addressed the fundamentals of hydrography and its contribution to safe navigation, maritime safety, coastal development and marine research.
The sessions set out the role of the Sri Lanka Navy Hydrographic Service in conducting hydrographic surveys and supplying marine geospatial information for maritime activity and national development.
Hydrography — the measurement and description of the seabed, tides and coastal waters — underpins nautical charting, and in Sri Lanka’s case the surveys that support port operations and the shipping lanes running close to the southern coast. The SLNHO is the national authority for that work.
Organisers framed the visit as broadening the students’ understanding of practical applications in fisheries, marine engineering and ocean research, and as an exercise in collaboration between universities and the hydrographic community.
The two departments represented map onto two distinct uses of the same data: fisheries science draws on seabed and water-column information, while marine engineering and naval architecture draw on it for vessel design and navigation.
Not reported
The filing does not name any of the officers who delivered the lectures, give the duration of the session, or say whether students saw survey equipment or vessels rather than attending lectures only.
It does not say whether this was a one-off visit or part of a continuing programme with either university, nor whether other institutions have attended comparable sessions.
Nothing is reported about the SLNHO’s current survey programme, its charting coverage of Sri Lankan waters, or its capacity — the filing concerns the visit alone.
On sourcing: this is a single-source article. The account originates with the Sri Lanka Navy’s own media release, published on its news service at news.navy.lk on 28 October, and was carried by Colombo Gazette on 29 October. The two are one statement in two places rather than independent reports, and only Colombo Gazette is a verified newsroom for credibility purposes. No other verified outlet filed on the visit.
