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We must regulate ourselves . . or the city, county, state and federal government will. The recent AD death might have repercussions that NONE OF US EXPECTED. I have battled with State of California OSHA so that I can teach SCUBA while on Nitrox.( yes they have a law against it.) I have battled with the City of Laguna Beach for my right to dive without a snorkel ( yes they have a law against it.) County of Los Angeles - launching an inflatable off a remote beach. ( yes they have a law against it.) City of Avalon - Diving under my own boat to make repairs ( yes they have a law against it.) It now seems that someone is going to be telling me what wrecks I can or cannot dive based solely upon those little plastic cards we issue to students upon completion of their course. I have included the following portion of a recent news story, which ends with a chilling call by a federal employee for regulations on SCUBA. We must regulate ourselves . . or the city, county, state and federal government CERTAINLY will. Kevin __________________________________________________________________ Cape Cod Times "Andrea Doria wreck claims 2nd diver in week String of deaths seen among charter's clients" By JOHN LEANING STAFF WRITER The Coast Guard records show that since 1986 five of the Seeker's passengers have died while diving on the Andrea Doria and nine others on other wrecks. The names and locations of the other wrecks could not be determined from the records. "The records are very slim the further back you go," conceded Robert Higgins, a civilian fishing vessel coordinator with the Coast Guard at First District Headquarters in Boston who compiled the records involving recreational diving deaths involving the Seeker. Among other things, Higgins analyzes commercial and recreational dive fatalities for the Coast Guard. "We are concerned with what the hell is going on out there," Higgins said in an interview yesterday. Currently there are no regulations or guidelines at all for divers once they take that last step off the deck of the dive boat and begin their descent. . Higgins said vessels like the Seeker basically provide a charter ferry service to the dive site. And that's all. "Once they (divers) leave the Seeker, there are no regulations. They are on their own. There are no regulations for the recreational diving industry," he said. "We need some kind of guidelines for these technical divers. They are diving beyond their capabilities, I believe," said Higgins, himself a former commercial diver on off-shore oil rigs working at depths similar to or greater than those at which the huge liner rests. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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