Divernet News, dateline 9 December 2003
New Zealand police publish safety guidelines for scuba diving
A simple and comprehensive diving safety code has been issued by the New Zealand police,
urging divers to prepare for the season ahead.
How universal are safe diving procedures? While each country and each training agency will have their own concerns and
their own take on how dives should be conducted, there appears to be a broad concensus about the basics of safe diving.
Equipment care, personal fitness and acquiring skills through appropriate diver training are emphasized in the report,
along with advice about dive planning and the importance of buddy diving.
The New Zealand guidelines also address freedivers; as snorkelling and freediving are very popular,
have accounted for 32 deaths in New Zealand over the past decade - almost half the number of scuba diving deaths.
"Too often divers die because they don't have the proper skills, equipment or physical fitness,"
commented Senior Sergeant Bruce Adams, head of the Wellington based police national dive team.
"Our waters provide a wonderful diving opportunity but the sport is very unforgiving if
you don't know what you're doing."
The guidelines can be viewed online here.
More links of interest
NZ scuba diving safety guidelines
British Dive Safely Guidelines issued
RNLI website (UK)
Maritime Coastguard Agency website (UK)
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Snakes alive!
Spectacular footage of sea snakes hunting in the coral reefs of the Banda Sea, Indonesia, will be among the underwater action in the second helping of the BBC documentary Planet Earth.
6 October 2006
Hoax diver escapes prosecution
The Channel Islands diver who set off a three-day £250,000 air and sea search after faking a diving accident in September has avoided facing a criminal prosecution, according to a report in the Guernsey Press & Star.
5 October 2006
Octopush worlds in UK
Britain has hosted a successful Underwater Hockey World Championships in Sheffield.
5 October 2006
Walk, paddle or hop for the MCS
The Marine Conservation Society has launched an imaginative fundraising programme - by offering people a near-infinite choice of sponsored journeys to undertake.
3 October 2006
MCS fish guide
The Marine Conservation Society has updated its online guide to buying fish in an eco-friendly way.
3 October 2006
1000th DCI patient for DDRC
Plymouth's Diving Diseases Research Centre treated its 1000th diver for decompression sickness in late September.
29 September 2006
Extended protection for Cornish wreck
The wreck of the St Anthony, near Helston in South Cornwall, has been redesignated so that a bigger protected area will be out of bounds to divers.
29 September 2006
Euro shark group launched
The Shark Alliance is a new conglomerate of conservation organisations, intent on pushing for more effective shark protection measures in Europe.
28 September 2006
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