AAUS Scientific Diving

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GratefulDiver

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Is anyone here an AAUS Scientific Diver? I'm interested in talking to people who hold this cert.

I'm been looking into pursuing this certification for sometime now. I'm told that there are numerous opportunities to assist academics (especially grad students) with research. The way it was explained to me is that grad students usually have to assist each other. Since grad student A is assisting grad student B, with their research, grad student A is spending less time doing their own research. I’m told that civilian divers who are qualified are preferred assistants because it allows twice as much research to be done.

As strange as it seems, this often (from what I'm told) mind numbingly boring diving really appeals to me.

To those of you who are academics or scientists, do you utilize qualified civilian divers? To those of you who are civilian scientific divers what type of diving have you been able to do as a result of this certification? Are you utilized as a resource often? How did you get this cert?

I found that this is offered via UC Davis and it appears that I can take it through their extension program. I also hear it's offered during the summer in Catalina at the USC facility.

As a bonus, because it’s a college course, I can get my company to reimburse me 100% for all costs regardless of the fact that it’s in no way related to my job. :eek:ut:

Any help or advice is appreciated!
 
I've been a volunteer research diver, AAUS certified, since 9/01. It can be rewarding work, but make no mistake about it, it can be hard, tedious work. I've volunteered at Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Is., but never established reciprocity to dive under AAUS auspices anywhere else. I've done kelp counting, urchin counting, and capturing small fish.
You mention that mind numbing boring diving actually appeals to you, so go for it. :)
 
Hi GratefulDiver,

I'm a marine biology graduate student and AAUS scientific diver at the University of Miami. I think only people who are associated with the university are allowed to dive with us for insurance reasons. That said, we do dive with people from other AAUS schools or agencies, NOAA for example.

You shouldn't think of an AAUS authorization as a c-card like certification. Instead it means that the diving safety officer of your AAUS member organization has cleared you to participate in scientific diving with that organization. In order to maintain your clearance you have to actually do science diving, have regular medical checkups, refresher CPR classes, ... The nice thing about AAUS is that member organizations acknowledge each other's training as equivalent (reciprocity). With a letter from your diving safety officer, you can easily be cleared to do similar kinds of dives with another AAUS group. Probably all you need is a checkout dive with the other diving safety officer.

The reason I went into that was because I think it would be difficult to do scientific diving without belonging to an AAUS member organization. I didn't realize it was possible at all until I read your post.

Finally, scientific diving is by no means inherently boring!!! In fact, once you get trained to deal with increased task loading under water, recreational diving becomes kind of boring: "so what do I do, just look around?"

-Klaus

Iragsac, why can't you get a letter of reciprocity from the Catalina DSO? I don't understand.
 
Thanks. I've been checking the Wrigley site for some time now. I'm going to send the DSO a note and see what he suggests.
 
klausbh once bubbled...
You shouldn't think of an AAUS authorization as a c-card like certification. Instead it means that the diving safety officer of your AAUS member organization has cleared you to participate in scientific diving with that organization. In order to maintain your clearance you have to actually do science diving

Indeed. I'm aware of this. The reason I want to get the certification is to do scientific diving. It's just that I'm neither in school (I got my MA years ago) and I'm not a scientist. It does appear however that their is room for civilians to make contributions to the advancement of research via assisting, which is what I want to do.

klausbh additionally bubbled...
The reason I went into that was because I think it would be difficult to do scientific diving without belonging to an AAUS member organization. I didn't realize it was possible at all until I read your post.


Iragsac is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. He's a civilian assisting in research on his own time (at least that's the impression I got).


klausbh yet again bubbled...
Finally, scientific diving is by no means inherently boring!!![/B]

I'm with you there. I love this kind of stuff which is why I want to get involved. Thanks so much for the tips. I'll keep you posted on how things turn out.
 
klausbh once bubbled...
...
Iragsac, why can't you get a letter of reciprocity from the Catalina DSO? I don't understand.

I suppose I could. I just never bothered. I am very close to Scripps IO, so an opportunity might arise. I didn't mean to portray scientific diving as insipid. You're right, it can be fun. Of course, nearly any opportunity to just get in the water is okay with me (as long as it's not dangerous). I just didn't want to romanticize things. Spending an hour underwater dealing with surge at a shallow reef covered in kelp and algae counting urchins is no picnic. But somebody's gotta do it...
:)
 
To dive "scientifically", well that just means you're on scuba and doing something research related. Fish counts for instance. However most people don't think up their own research, and so run off to join something already established... that something is often regulated by a higher education or government institution. And to dive with THEM requires these "scientific diving certifications."

Now to dive as part of a university or government-sponsored operation, you sometimes need an AAUS, NOAA, or equivalent certification, and it must usually be current. NOAA requires a dive a month, every month, and AAUS has something similar. AAUS also has yearly dues.

As far as I know only universities and state/federal agencies offer such courses, and they take a good mint of time to complete. AAUS tends to conform a lot of its materials around the NAUI Advanced Diving Manual. I forgot what NOAA does.

Some schools will let dive professionals assist them, and some won't without the scientific diving cert. It's a bit flaky. Being polite and a big suck-up helps.

I scientifically dive all the time, and teach it, but am neither AAUS nor NOAA checked out. It can sometimes be aggravating.

If you have the chance to take one of these courses however, jump on it.
 
If you are doing any scientific diving associated with an institution, I would highly recommend you and the organization become a member of AAUS. The American Academy of Underwater Sciences was established in the late 1970s as a response to an OSHA proposed regulation on commercial diving. This regulation would have required all scientific divers to meet the OSHA regulation, and was highly supported by the commercial diving industry. However, the regulation would have ruined a number of research programs. AAUS argued, ultimately successfully, that the programs they had in place were adequate without OSHA's regulation. This allowed them to obtain an OSHA exemption from the Commercial Diving Regulations, which is still in effect. Without this exemption, it would be cost-prohibitive to conduct much of the underwater research necessary in university and aquarium programs. By becoming a member of AAUS, and complying with it's diving certification programs, you contribute to the continuance of OSHA exemption for scientific diving from the commercial diving regulations.

SeaRat
 
I testified as a scuba instructor in the hearings into the commercial diving code by Oregon OSHA in 1978. Tosee the regs, go to http://www.cbs.state.or.us/external/osha/pdf/rules/division_2/div2_t.pdf and scroll down to Division T, Commercial Diving. Scuba instructors also have an exemption from the OSHA code for commercial diving. Here's the text of the code:

§1910.401 SCOPE AND APPLICATION.
(a) Scope.

(1) This subdivision (standard) applies to every place of employment within the waters of the United States, or within any State, the District of Columbia, the Com-monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Wake Island, Johnston Island, the Canal Zone, or within the Outer Continental Shelf lands as defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (67 Stat. 462, 43 U.S.C. 1331), where diving and related support operations are performed.

(2) This standard applies to diving and related support operations conducted in connection with all types of work and employments, including general industry, construction, ship repairing, shipbuilding, shipbreaking and longshoring. However, this standard does not apply to any diving operation:
(i) Performed solely for instructional purposes, using open-circuit, compressed-air SCUBA and conducted within the no-decompression limits;
(ii) Performed solely for search, rescue, or related public safety purposes by or under the control of a governmental agency; or
(iii) Governed by 45 CFR Part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) or equivalent rules or regulations estab-lished by another federal agency, which regulate research, development, or related purposes involving human subjects.
(iv) Defined as scientific diving and which is under the direction and control of a diving program containing at least the following elements:
(A) Diving safety manual which includes at a minimum: Procedures
covering all diving operations specific to the program; procedures for emergency care, including recompression and evacuation; and criteria for diver training and certification.
(B) Diving control (safety) board, with the majority of its members being
active divers, which shall at a minimum have the authority to: Approve and monitor diving projects; review and revise the diving safety manual; assure compliance with the manual; certify the depths to which a diver has been trained; take disciplinary action for unsafe practices; and, assure adherence to the buddy system (a diver is accompanied by and is in continuous contact with another diver in the water) for SCUBA diving.

This may explain some of the reasons the AAUS diving program deviates from the recognized standards of some of the diving instructional organizations. I helped the University of Oregon become acquainted with these regulations (I don't think they ever became a member though) when I advised them on their diving safety program in the early 1990's. Oregon State University is a member, as is the Oregon Graduate Institute (now a part of the Oregon Health and Sciences University). A list of participating organizations is available at their AAUS web site.

SeaRat
 
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