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

[vicky]

An "update":

1. The obligation to make the "20 first dives" (after AOW) seems to be only a "pilot". The goal is to restrict all divers to guided dives only. I think the basic assumption that a diver that finished his AOW course is not responsible enough to rent gear and go diving without a "nanny" guide is corrupted...

2. After last year's fatal accident in the "Sufa" wreck (21-26meters) the diving authorities restricted ALL types of dives to 42 meters, regardless of certification type. For this matter, technical divers, tri-mix divers, DM, instructors (even if they are paid!) are restricted by LAW to 42 meters. There is no place for "healthy logic".
Spearfishing is outlawed anyway...

 

[Liquid]

GOD!!!

They finally lost it completly, havent they?!

I thought you ment the original depth restrictions, what you say now means that someone there is VERY supid.

The part about instructors having unlimited depth was for cases of students that for some reason droped to deep. Now if for some reason during a deep dive course a student loses bouyancy, gets narked and dives too deep an instructor will break the law in trying to rescue him!!!


I must get to the bottom of it, but if what you say is true, they'r going to kill the diving industry here.

btw- spear fishing isn't outlawed, you need a fishing permit like everone. usualy you dont bother with it.

 

[Gocartman99]

I'm 18 living in America and am begining to love my country even more every day. I can't believe counties would try to regulate Scuba diving. This sounds asanign to me. As an avid diver and spear fisherman I was unaware as to the freedoms I had as a diver here in the US. Heres to hopeing that governments wise up and give credit to knowledgable divers around the world.

 

[bwerb]

Gocartman99 once bubbled...
I'm 18 living in America and am begining to love my country even more every day. I can't believe counties would try to regulate Scuba diving. This sounds asanign to me. As an avid diver and spear fisherman I was unaware as to the freedoms I had as a diver here in the US. Heres to hopeing that governments wise up and give credit to knowledgable divers around the world.

If you for whatever reason think you have been injured or otherwise wronged by your local diving establishment you can sue to your hearts content and force them to spend tons of money on legal defense even if you were a complete idiot. I like the take responsibility for your own actions way of thinking.
In Canada, if you sue someone for something and you lose, YOU pay all of their court costs. In this way, it decreases the amount of "jury lottery" cases where someone is negligent and wants to blame the world for it.



:bonk:

 

[DivePartner1]

Oh lighten up, he said he was 18! Aspects of diving (tanks safety by DOT, no shore diving in Chicago, lobsters only in season in FLA., USCG and state law regulating dive boats, etc., etc.) are already regulated and states will probably make this worse eventually. After all, we have highway laws for safety, even if so many ignore them.

And as to the lottery aspect, there is increasingly wacking stuff coming out of Canada's courts. Ontario's and BC's plaintiffs bars are discovering the lucrative world of your own US-style class action law, and Australia is hastily churning out tort reform laws to try to stem runaway verdicts that would make Alabama juries blush.

Still, I agree a dysfunctional judicial system can be as corrosive as an over-reaching legislature or imperious executive branch, and sometimes I fear for my country more than others. What comes out of a legislature is at least in theory the product of the reasoned debate of our representatives.

I await the rebuttal of Guy Fawkes . . .

 

[bwerb]

Sorry, I was trolling there for a second...got one!

I'm actually a dual citizen and can easily talk pro or con with equal conviction. Both of our court systems are completely screwed-up. The above example from Quebec easily demonstrates how stupid some of our Canadian laws are (as of this posting I believe Quebec is still in Canada).

My own personal belief is that there is not much the government touches in terms of legislation of recreational activity which is freedom enhancing but...I believe that the "bad apple" or moron factor has far too great an influence on what the rest of us are allowed to do. The first step is definitely personal responsibility. I am also a rock climber and back-country skiier. I love all the disclaimers and "thou shal not sue" paperwork which comes with all of our equipment. Take a class, how many forms in legalease do you have to sign promising not to sue for any reason (many of which won't stand-up in court unfortunately). If you want to take risks with your own life, go ahead, just don't expect someone else to pay for it if something goes wrong.

 

[DivePartner1]

I feel so used!

 

[PK]

So, this thread is pretty interesting.

We have a lot of freedoms about diving in the US but I wonder if it has to do with our legislature not really focused on it. If they did, will they try to pass law forbidding things to the extreme? If our government was spurred on by high profile accidents, as in Israel, do we really think they won't try to pass the same types of freedom-denying laws?

We have a contrived "democracy." In reality, our laws are created by only a few, not a majority. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't trust any of the choices of people we have to elect.

So, I suppose what I'm trying to say is to let us keep an eye on our governments and what they try to pass. Although limited, we have power, and must use it when necessary. And it's often necessary. We expound democracy but never automative fairness and logic.

I'm now done with my speech...