My point is that DMs who have never dived outside of a quarry or small fresh water loch (lake) should not be employed immediately as a DM in say the Florida Keys or the Red Sea without some sort of update.
Devon Diver has already mentioned that this update system does exist but apparently is not mandatory. And I also agree that the reverse is true, any DM who has never experienced a cold low viz situation such as in a quarry also needs to have an update course if working in these conditions.
It's kinda mandatory when you think about it. It's defined in 'Safe Diving Practices'... Divemasters are obligated to follow Safe Diving Practices as part of their membership.
With regards to region/conditions in this debate, the concept of environmental familiarity could easily be covered in those DM membership standards. A specific familiarization program or local experience requirement could even be detailed...."
before conducting DM duties in a new environment..." That'd remove the need for regional or multi-sectional qualifications...
Membership standards could easily be tightened to impose restrictions on the type of diving, use of equipment etc for divemasters.
Hours are a far better measurement than dives. 'Unsupervised hours' makes more sense for a prospective dive leader. Diving conducted under the support/supervision/guidance/tutelage of a professional diver shouldn't count towards the experience requirement. Basically, guided (potentially herd) dives and training dives wouldn't count towards experience... the prospective DM would have to go out and independently manage their own dives for a little while before applying to join a course.
Something like "
60 hours of unsupervised diving" would be a lot more credible than just '60 dives'.
Add to that some diving experience specifics... should there be a requirement for:
XX deep dives?
XX nitrox dives?
XX multi-level dives?
XX computer dives?
etc etc etc
This would also help ensure that the DM candidate had a breadth of experience - utilizing the training/skills that would part-and-parcel of their future diving duties as a DM...
What we're basically talking about is what foundations should a diver have before progressing from
diver to
dive leader.
I still think it's a joke that you can enroll on DM with 60 dives, but need 100 dives for Self-Reliant (Solo) Diver. One of the stated goals of the self-reliant course is to help preserve safety for diving professionals.... odd that some of those supervisory-level professionals aren't even deemed competent to do that training... LOL