You can either complain or do something about the problem: The choice is YOURS!

[gtstricky]

On a lighter note...

A SCUBA show on the Discovery channel or National Geographic would do wonders for the industry. The metal detecting show Diggers has turned that industry upside down.

It just needs to have some over the top hosts that most serious divers would probably hate.

 

[flots am]

Which means you hate just about everything.

The only thing I really hate in business are companies that take advantage of people. They have been lead to believe that SCUBA is some sort of Dark Art that can only be learned from the anointed few, and requires LIFE SUPPORT EQUIPMENT that needs to cost thousands of dollars.

However, I worked in the Chemistry machine shop at UF for four years, and then at a private machine shop for a few years after and given the current rates at any machine shop, I am fairly certain that the price for one first stage and a couple of second stages would easily exceed a grand.

One first stage and second stage could easily be a grand. If you make hundreds on CNC machines, the cost drops a lot.

 

[The Chairman]

The only thing I really hate in business are companies that take advantage of people. They have been lead to believe that SCUBA is some sort of Dark Art that can only be learned from the anointed few, and requires LIFE SUPPORT EQUIPMENT that needs to cost thousands of dollars.

News Flash, Walter Cronkite: people die while Scuba Diving. Usually, what they don't know is what kills them. Again, I find your premise flawed, your arguments unsubstantiated and your conclusions way off base. Repeating them ad nauseum doesn't magically make them acceptable.

One first stage and second stage could easily be a grand. If you make hundreds on CNC machines, the cost drops a lot.

Which is what we call an "industry". Don't forget that based on the metal used, there will probably be plating involved, making hoses and so on. It doesn't sound like you've really know what you want or have thought this out. It's more like you're just pissed off that people make money from your hobby. Haters always be hatin'.

 

[squalus357]

For years I have been diving wrecks in The Long Island Sound. I was collecting everything I could find. Bottles, portholes, ship fittings and GPS numbers. I was a nasty miserly greedy jerk of a diver. I screamed and yelled when other dive charter boats saw my flag up and asked a million questions. I was part of the problem for scuba diving. I was simply a jerk. It wasn't beneficial for me, my friends, or the sport of diving. in 2012 I started filming all my dives and plotting them on an interactive map. I started with local close to shore dives no deeper than 15-30FSW. I wanted to entice the locals. The non divers, the fisherman and the land lovers. The shallow stuff showed colors and marine life. I also wanted land lovers and non divers to be able to identify with the close to shore locations. If i started off with 60fsw I would have scared most people away. I make no money from the videos. Sometimes we sell DVDS and shirts but thats about it. This is the third year I have been filming and we have finally gotten to wreck exploration. There are some many sites to investigate around here. I digress, getting back to the thread, after a few years something interesting happened. People started emailing and leaving comments like "I never thought you could dive around here!" "Wow its nothing like I thought it would be down there!" We started roping people in. Now our facebook page is on the verge of breaking 5000 people.

We have had people from local news, newspapers cover some of our videos and more and more people find us. (We have been contacted by production companies looking to make "Reality Shows" which we are not really interested in. We want to stay on topic and not lose our message of diving, fun and exploration.)

We hook the non divers first. The fisherman and so on. They convert to diving and its better for LDS, Charter boats, scuba diving and the marine environment. I hope this has been helpful. I also encourage anyone, if you want to share your dives with everyone because you love it. Do it! Do it for the love of the diving. I feel greedy hogging the experience to myself and I have to share it with others. Its like they have no idea what they are missing! Again, this is only our 3rd year. It takes a while for people to find you and although our numbers aren't huge we are making an impact locally. Thats better than nothing!

I would like to personally invite you all to dive with us online at Squalus Marine
(Maybe sometime offline as well!)

Thank you all for your time and consideration.

Captain Denis Habza
Founder
Squalus Marine Divers

 

[kr2y5]

I wanted to entice the locals. The non divers, the fisherman and the land lovers. The shallow stuff showed colors and marine life. (...) People started emailing and leaving comments like "I never thought you could dive around here!" "Wow its nothing like I thought it would be down there!" We started roping people in. Now our facebook page is on the verge of breaking 5000 people.

Way to go! There are thousands of videos with people in swimsuits swimming around fish and coral in tropical destinations, but I have not seen a documentary that would explain why a lot of people go dive locally in 20-foot visibility. A local dive can be as much (or more) of an exciting adventure as a trip to Caribbean, and it does not require a steep upfront investment.

 

[flots am]

It's more like you're just pissed off that people make money from your hobby. Haters always be hatin'.

Paranoid much?

I don't care if people make money. I'm fond of it myself. However SCUBA doesn't need to be an "industry." It wasn't in the past, and I suspect it won't be in the future.

News Flash, Walter Cronkite: people die while Scuba Diving.

Yes they do.

They die because SCUBA is promoted by the industry as an easy, safe, fun vacation bucket-list activity that anybody can do with nearly no training.

I wouldn't expect anything else when shops are barely surviving by pushing equipment packages containing barrels of expensive unnecessary fluff, and classes where you can be a "master diver" and still not know how to safely re-board a boat.

It's no big mystery that the SCUBA industry is failing. It's doing a terrible job at pretty much everything. I really don't see any reason for it's continued existence.

 

[The Chairman]

However SCUBA doesn't need to be an "industry." It wasn't in the past, and I suspect it won't be in the future.

Which past are you talking about Willis? I've been diving since 1969, and it was obvious that it had been an industry long before that. Again, your premise is faulty which undermines anything you add after that.

 

[John A Lewis]

BDSC, I couldn't tell you the answers to those questions, but I have invited John to this thread to answer any and all questions.

WOW. Thank you all for your interest in Around the World Under the Sea.

Let me see if I can hit the biggest question that's been asked me, both here and elsewhere:

"How do you plan to distribute the program(s)?"

From the start the plan has been to use the Internet for distribution in order to bypass country-specific broadcast limitations.

For the most part, the Internet is available to users/viewers worldwide; the same cannot be said of broadcast entities on over-the-air (OTA) or cable systems. We really want this to be seen by anyone with an interest "Around the World" as easily as we can.

Some folks have messaged me personally, asking why I am going to all this trouble (especially since it takes up quite a bit of my time and effort).

The answer to that is quite simple. I believe that diving is a lifestyle that needs to be promoted in order to attract people to participate in it. We need to invite folks into the adventure of the sport--and the way to do so is to show them the sights, fun and places they can go in a positive manner. Snow-skiing does this, so does surfing--why should scuba diving be any different? After all--all three are gear-intensive sports are they not?

"What will each episode consist of?"

Basic outline calls for the following:

1. Diving segment

The underwater portion, where certain dive sites and wildlife are highlighted.

2. Topside segment

This consists of back history of the location, and where possible local environmentalist interviews highlighting conservation efforts by the local populace.

3. Skills Segment

Here, a skill a diver practices will be shown, in order to demystify what a diver knows and show the public that they can also participate in the underwater realm with proper training. This may also be a segment that focuses on a certain area of diving that leads to a career in the sea.

--------------------
Now, let me take a moment to speak to some of the thread drift that has occurred here by asking a question of my own:

Why do some folks I'm reading comments from here seem adamantly opposed to an attempt to increase the number of people participating in our sport to maintain viability?

It strikes me as incredibly counter-productive (as well as narrow-minded) to not want to increase the number of potential dive buddies we can all have. That's what the video series is for, and why I'm fighting so hard to bring about.

If you have a beef with training agencies, manufacturers and their practices or other similar concerns--why aren't you taking it up with them rather than shoot down this effort out of hand?

The Kickstarter campaign, BTW, is an All-Or-Nothing affair--if we don't reach the funding goal, no funds taken or distributed.

I'll do the heavy lifting. I've committed myself to do that for you. I only ask that you contribute to the campaign effort, and urge everyone you know to do so as well.

The link is at the bottom of this message.

The ball is in your court--in ALL of our courts.

---------- Post added June 18th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ----------

OH---and before I go off to teach class today, allow me to thank NetDoc for this forum for the effort.

I suspect he remembers back when Scubaboard was starting out from scratch as well.

Again, my thanks.

---------- Post added June 18th, 2014 at 11:15 AM ----------

I backed it.

Thank you.

 

[Wingy]

There needs to be an app for that instead. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

You won't even engage the attention of the current generation of potential divers with a video series. Which won't have distribution wide enough to be seen by anyone it's trying to reach. Whoever said put it on YouTube has the best suggestion.

It matches the attention span of the target audience and if one gets lucky and goes viral, there'll be more non-divers inquiring about it than any other medium.

Want to get someone's attention real fast? Figure out how to dive with Google Glass. With a drone hovering overhead recording it all. At least this year that might work...

Interesting aside...

I usually look for the post-show summary from the Scuba Events. The short interviews you posted with the various Long Beach Scuba Show participants this year were far more interesting than anything I've ever seen before. Were they 1/2 hr. long show summaries instead - you would've lost me.

And I'm NOT in the target demographic by several decades.

Bingo!. Unless you can find something extreme and sexy about the UW World the current generation of potential divers are far more interested in other things. Technology fascinates them, their world moves fast and best be interesting and instant. I used this thread to conduct a little experiment with my engineering students this afternoon. I put on a 7 minute vid from youtube of diving in Sabang..within 2 minutes some were fiddling around with AutoCad. By 6 minutes I had three semi interested faces only because I was lecturing while it was on about non sustainable fishing. Then I put on a 7 minute vid from youtube of extreme drone wars footage and humanoid robotics and none of them turned their eyes away.

I then took them down to the fabrication lab and used the 3D printers to print out a go pro anti drag housing for the ship (that made them interested) which then got them talking about oceans again so it really does seem the R&D flow on from other industries may yet prove to be a factor in making scuba more appealing to the late teens to mid 20's group I had today. They dont want to see what Cousteau saw...they want to see it through google glasses recording the moment in UV live streamed to friends around the world with instant editing software built in thanks, plus effects and tweet it while you are at it.

And please, no no reality show..ever...imagine a bunch of duck dynasty dudes and a bunch of kardashians being unleashed on the poor paying scuba divers off this world. Thats just unkind.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

The show isn't really for the enthusiast diver: it's to entice people to start diving.

If a show is going to entice members of the non-diving public to start diving, it needs to be a show that will be exposed to a large audience and that people watch because they enjoy it, independent of whether it is an "underwater" show or not.

Three shows influenced divers of my generation to take up diving. I also think that these 3 shows contributed greatly to the expansion of diving during the 70's and 80's. Two of those shows, "Sea Hunt" and "Flipper" were carried on regular network TV. The general public watched these shows because they were popular "adventure" shows. And through them, they got interested in diving.

The third show was "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau". These documentaries also had strong "adventure" element to them. They also catered to the publics curiosity about the oceans. In the 60's/70's, the ocean was still very much hidden from most people. Heck, at that time they were still coming to terms with the fact that tectonic plates were real.

I have long thought that we need another show to grab the public imagination about diving. But it has to be a "good show" independent of it's connection to diving if you are going to get people to watch it and to want to get involved in the activities the show portrays.