I am fairly new to diving.... I KNOW that I am responsible for my own safety and I take it very seriously! . . . I look to the DM on the boat as the leader......He is the one with the experience and the training that helps keep him safe. . . . From what I read on here....the DM is not responsible for anything...but maybe showing us some pretty fish! Do all of you DM's here TRY to keep the new divers from making mistakes???
You may be referring in part to some of the comments in the thread that Greek started about a recent Cozumel experience, where there was an assumption about the DM's role that may not have been altogether consistent with what DMs often do. You ask some good questions.
Jim Lapenta:
Short answer is - it depends.
Jim summed it up very succinctly - it really does depend on the circumstance. Part of my response to your question comes from DMing, and part of it comes from being a group leader on charter trips, where there may also be some implied 'responsibility'. My thoughts:
1. On coastal charters in NC, a primary role of the DM is often to set an anchor line on a wreck. So, s/he goes in the water before the divers, and frequently the signal for the divers to start entering the water is when the DM surfaces. Or, s/he may surface, reboard the boat and brief the conditions on the wreck, but then stay on the boat until the last diver reboards and then jumps back in to release the anchor. So, expecting the DM to be available during the dive is not practical in that situation.
2. Whether you 'interview' the DM before a dive or not, it is a very good idea to ask, in the dive site brief that s/he or the captain gives, exactly what the role of the DM will be during the dive. Will they even be in the water during the dive, for example? If I am in the water with a group during a dive, I will generally keep an eye on the group at large, but I am seldom in a position to 'watch' everyone. If someone has specifically asked me to 'keep an eye on' them, I will make a reasonable effort to do so. But, I am there as a resource for the group.
3. If a diver comes to me before we get in the water, and asks for advice / help, I will do whatever I can to assist. If they ask me to 'keep an eye on' them during the dive (as above), I may have to say, 'I will try but, my primary responsibility has to be . . .' whatever it happens to be, according to what the captain wants / needs. I may go in before a group, set a line, stay down for most of the dive, but then ascend ahead of divers, to help them re-board (and then go back to release the anchor). As Jim said, 'it depends'.
4. I am happy to help any diver, new or experienced, who asks for help. I am less likely to spontaneously interject my opinions when I see divers gearing up, unless they have done something clearly wrong (like forgetting to turn on their air). There are a lot of divers who react very negatively to 'scuba police', and you don't get very far with some of those folks, even when you try to help. I MIGHT ask about a gear configuration I see that seems a bit unusual (not 'unsafe', just uncommon) - in a non-threatening way - 'Interesting way to run that hose. How well does that work?' - to open the door for discussion. Or, if a diver appears clearly uncomfortable, or uncertain about their gear, I may say, 'How are you doing today?', or 'Nice rig, is that new?', or 'Anything I can help you with?' If they say, 'No.' then I will say, 'Great. Let me know if you need any help.' and leave it at that. Or, underwater, if I see a diver who appears to be having some stress, I may swim up and give them the 'OK' sign, to see how they respond. Again, it depends.
5. Finally, just because someoine is a DM, they are not necessarily as mature, experienced, and capable of helping divers, new or experienced, as you might perceive as optimal. Even if they are instructors working as DMs on a charter, in some cases they may (unfortunately) be as interested in the pretty divers as in the pretty fish. That is not the rule by any means, only a way to point out that not all DMs (irrespective agency, by the way) are not equally responsible.