Are there any "scuba laws" or restricitions in your country?

[vicky]

Hi There,
I was just wondering what is the situation worldwide:

Is there any state-law in your country that restricts scubadiving only to guided dives?

I am asking because here in Israel they want to modify the already existing "scubadiving law" and enforce only guided dives, claiming that it will be safer (for diver and/or environment) for all scubadivers to dive only with a guide (DM/instructor),.
The authorities claim that this is the situation all over the world... Is this true?

P.S. The "scubadiving law" in Israel is from the late 70s, after several accidents in Sinai the Parliament legislated a law that is supposed to make some order in scubadiving. According to the law it is forbidden to make solo divings, one must have an insurance, it describes what is the minimum equipment divers must have, it limits the maximum scubadiving depth to 42m (even if you are a tri-mix diver!!!), etc.

 

[JamesK]

Well, they are lying to you if they told you it was like that everywhere. You are allowed to dive however you want here, unless the landowner, or ship captain, makes their own rules ragarding diving from their boat or on their property. You do not need a DM or Instructor with you, you do not have a depth limit, and you can solo dive all you want. We are lucky to have no true government regulation over our diving.

 

[Diversauras]

Problem is that the Kinesset will have difficulty outlawing stupidity and ego.

In the US the only "Law" associated with diving are those regulating the HP cylinders and boat operations. The rest is self policing to which the insurance companies are a big factor.

 

[david.tolan]

You can certainly dive without a dive guide/instructor in Ireland. Honest.

AFAIK you can dive solo. Personally I like company.

There are no laws that I am aware of relating to Maximum Depths. There's the PADI rules, and presumably other organisations have their rules, but theses are not laws.

I believe that there are regulations relating to pressurised gasses.

But here's a thought for you. I have a vague notion that private scuba diving is Illegal in Morroco !!! Anyone know more about the situation there ?

Blues Skies.
Dave

 

[wetman]

I think Quebec here in Canada is proposing a bunch of assenine laws similar to that as well (actually i think they're already law but no one has a clue how to enforce them).

Theres a bit of info down this page:

http://www.underwatercouncil.com/news.htm

search for FQAS

For places with depth laws, does anyone ever discuss how thats to be enforced?

steve

 

[Sue]

well in here there is still a law (the only one there is concerning scubadiving) made around the 60's, that says that if you dive below 40 mt (131 feet) you need to have a hyperbaric chamber on board, a doctor on board and an instructor on board!

Hopefully there's no control over that!

The same law states that if you're a certified diver (no matter if you're a PADI OW with just 4 dives), you're allowed to go up to 40 meters.

That is being changed now ...

There are no mentions at all concerning the need of a DM or guide for dives

Sue

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Malta requires an in-water instructor as a dive guide for all divers who do not hold a Maltese government sport diver card.

To get the government card, all divers must submit a copy of a doctors medical certification of fitness to dive along with proof of certification to the PADI AOW level, or comparable level of training in other agencies.


Here in Cayman, we have no guide laws. Other laws regulate certain diving activities. There is a general prohibition against taking fish or other marine life while on scuba. Additionally, use of spear guns, Hawaiian slings and the such are strictly limited to liscensed persons.

 

[MuddyFox]

USAKA dictates that no one dives below 130, no decompression diving, buddy system is to be used, and that you be checked out once by a divemaster prior to undergoing diving activities.

If you are certified on island, or hold a BOW cert upon arrival, you have 6 months to get your AOW otherwise you must cease.

Once certified, no guides are necessary.

 

[Liquid]

As far as I know israel is the ONLY country in the world with such a wide law program that regulates everything in recreational diving. There are several places in the world where there are laws or local rules regarding how a certain place should be dived (Sinai- Boats only with local guid, for example), but nothing like what we have in Israel.

Some background for none Israelis- This new legislation (well, as far as I know there was no legislation, only new rules by the "Incharge authority") was due to several scuba accidents, ended with death, that happened here recently. The laws that organize the diveing industry are far older.

Vicky- 2 things-

1- Are you sure that ALL dives will have to be guided? I heard that only the first 20 dives of a diver must be.

2- What you wrote about the depth limitations is not exact. The original law stated 4 eapths- 20M for *,30M for**, 42M for *** and for instructors it says "Acording to healthy logic". Those limitation apply ONLY to recreational sport diving. (i.e- If you get payed for diving, it is no longer recreational, but profesional, spear fishing is also profesional if you sell the fish, etc.). Technical diving is not considered "sports diving" for the sake of this law.

 

[pt40fathoms]

With the exception of the Province of Quebec, the rest of Canada as no laws other than using a flag, and no commercial or "for hire" diving without a commercial licence.

For almost all dive activities, you are on your own. The Dive Shops have elected to "self regulate" and have done a very good job at this. For this reason, this sport has been left alone, with the one noted exception of Quebec.