The UK is one of the only countries in the world where the harmonic variables used to calculate tide tables are not freely available.
They are deemed to be a copyright of the Crown - and currently the Government demands payment from those who wish to use and publish this data.
As an aid to the safety of all shipping around the coast of Great Britain it is widely felt that this data should be made freely available to all require it, or who wish to publish the results either on paper or electronically.
If you support this view, please sign the petition currently on the Prime Minister's website: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Tidetable-data.
The deadline for signing is Friday (January 11) so time is short, but the more people that sign it, the more likely it is that this “Canute-like” attitude of officialdom will have to change, and the easier (and cheaper) it will be to get accurate tidal data.
It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up. So please add your name to the campaign.
