DaleC
Contributor
Hi Dalton.
I think you can split your question into two parts. How to get people out for a clean up event, how to create an organization.
For the event to be successful you need to tap into a group of divers (can be small and still be effective) and then your organization needs to make the event easy and comfortable/fun. This revolves around having some O2 on hand and a first aid person, a canopy set up if it's raining, having hot chocolate and maybe some food for divers, and providing onion or potato sacks for the divers to fill. Pretty basic; if a diver shows up they should feel like your group made it fun and frendly to participate.
As far as collecting data goes.. I would not. The more you ask about a diver, the more liability you assume. You are asking divers to collect trash. They are responsible for how they dive. It is enough to verify they are certified for the conditions they are diving, just like a charter, for the most part OW and leave it at that.
As to the organization. One thing that I noticed is that you want groups and individuals to register with you, under your banner. A red flag for me. What this suggests is that you will then claim to represent all these divers. Most divers already doing clean ups do so under some sort of sponsorship/affiliation. Either a dive shop, a club, or a corporate sponsor. They will probably not want to do that work and then cede affiliation to you, so you can claim the glory so to speak. Our club for example, would claim to represent our divers, and our corporate sponsor wants their assistance to reflect upon them, not some third party.
So.. you could create your own small group to do your own clean ups but other similar groups are going to ask "why should we join them". What would affiliation offer us that we aren't already able to accomplish. It's a tricky situation that I don't exactly know how to solve but recognize as existing.
If your goal is to do clean ups I would say focus less on representing people and more on providing a service. If you put on a well serviced event, divers will enjoy attending and then may want to affiliate themselves with your group. So far you are asking for a lot of data without really proving who or what you're about.
Meant as constructive, any group that really wants to do clean up work is a good thing.
I think you can split your question into two parts. How to get people out for a clean up event, how to create an organization.
For the event to be successful you need to tap into a group of divers (can be small and still be effective) and then your organization needs to make the event easy and comfortable/fun. This revolves around having some O2 on hand and a first aid person, a canopy set up if it's raining, having hot chocolate and maybe some food for divers, and providing onion or potato sacks for the divers to fill. Pretty basic; if a diver shows up they should feel like your group made it fun and frendly to participate.
As far as collecting data goes.. I would not. The more you ask about a diver, the more liability you assume. You are asking divers to collect trash. They are responsible for how they dive. It is enough to verify they are certified for the conditions they are diving, just like a charter, for the most part OW and leave it at that.
As to the organization. One thing that I noticed is that you want groups and individuals to register with you, under your banner. A red flag for me. What this suggests is that you will then claim to represent all these divers. Most divers already doing clean ups do so under some sort of sponsorship/affiliation. Either a dive shop, a club, or a corporate sponsor. They will probably not want to do that work and then cede affiliation to you, so you can claim the glory so to speak. Our club for example, would claim to represent our divers, and our corporate sponsor wants their assistance to reflect upon them, not some third party.
So.. you could create your own small group to do your own clean ups but other similar groups are going to ask "why should we join them". What would affiliation offer us that we aren't already able to accomplish. It's a tricky situation that I don't exactly know how to solve but recognize as existing.
If your goal is to do clean ups I would say focus less on representing people and more on providing a service. If you put on a well serviced event, divers will enjoy attending and then may want to affiliate themselves with your group. So far you are asking for a lot of data without really proving who or what you're about.
Meant as constructive, any group that really wants to do clean up work is a good thing.
