tedtim:
Already happened in Quebec through and agency called FQAS. They have a 32 page document of regulations (in French). Now you have to pay every three years for a permit (instructors have to pay every year) and have to show a minimum number of dives over the three years. IMO it does not add to safety or look at ensuring divers are competent.
BTW, if you get caught diving in Quebec without this permit you are subject to a fine.
Yes and there are a few other places where diving is government regulated.
Political trends aside, I again refer to the agencies. They want to contue to lower standards so more people can dive and yet "regulate" by requiring certifications and keep government out.
You can't have it both ways. Recertification might help insure that a divers skills meet standards but
it's the newest divers that get in the most trouble. That is an indications that the standards are lacking. The obvious place to start would be to RAISE standards. If that failed to get you where you needed to be then you might have to look at some sort of re-certification.
The whole idea of the industry regulation existing to keep government out is total BS. It exists to create a need for the agencies products. I see absolutely zero evidence that the dive training that exists makes diving any safer. Keep in mind that the people who would grab some gear and teach themselves or have a buddy teach them are a completely different crowd than those going for a quick cert and heading to cozumel. The agencies are selling diving but they aren't teaching it. In doing so they're putting high risk folks in the water who wouldn't otherwise even consider it.
The problem with government oversight is that the government usually does everything worse than anybody else. Still, if anybody in diving could use a kick in the pants from government it's the agencies, IMO.
Also, IMO, if any of you really want to do something to make divers better or diving safer then you should start demanding more from the agencies (ie, the training products that you purchase). Heck, you should do that even if you just want to make the vis a little better.
Given the nature of the accidents we see, more so than the number of accidents, if it were up to me somebody would be taking a good long hard look at what the agencies are doing. How divers get hurt and the nature of the accident and the reading of the standards just all lines up to well.
So go ahead...sell it to everyone, make the standards lax and the classes short and cheap so no one is excluded...just don't try to get me to pay or use my time for anykind of recertification.
If, and I say if, there is a problem, the agencies created it and brought it on themselves.
