Compressor diving // BBC Human Planet

[sonar]

Just watched the first episode of this very promising BBC documentary serie. First episode is about people surviving on the ocean. I can really recommend it. In Philipinnes they go compressor diving in Palawan.

YouTube - ‪Dangerous Net Fishing - Human Planet: Oceans, preview - BBC One‬‏

They also visit "sea gypies". One guy there dives on his own air for 5 minutes and is negative buoyant ws he doesnt need weights and walks on the reef. Funny fact is the getting landsick when go ashore

Anway, check it out. I am gonna spend this weekend watching them all. They are all available on piratebay

 

[DonCebu]

They also visit "sea gypies".

It is possible the "sea gypsies" you are referring to are the Bajau people

 

[sonar]

yes, they are the ones. Didn't know how to write that. I am still really amazed about this episode. The others are nice as well but this one stands out so far (pbb cause I am a diver).

Regarding compressor diving; so sick how they make 3 dives a day with a tube in their mouth. Looking at that rusty engine and web of tubes it must just be waiting till the whole engine collapses and everybody gets out of air at 30m with 2h bottomtime.. Really really insane

 

[dgalvan123]

Yes! I just saw this episode of Human Planet myself. (looks amazing on blu-ray, by the way).

That segment on the surface-supplied divers blew my mind.

The divers themselves were quite skilled and agile in the water, wearing shorts and t-shirts and seemingly home-made fins (pieces of plywood strapped to their feet with ropes) and masks that look like they were from the 1960's. And just a narrow, garden-hose-type tube in their mouth constantly pumping the diesel-fume air from the surface compressor down to them at 100-120 ft depth. A bunch of guys on the boat tried to keep the 10-15 different hoses untangled while the divers did what they needed to do at the bottom. The hoses would often kink and there were numerous visible leaks. And remember there is no regulator, so the divers just let the excess air seep out of their mouths. And of course, you can imagine how much of a pain on your jaw and lips it must be to keep the slick end of a hose from slipping out of your mouth for several hours.

They are down there for several hours, and they showed several guys clearly getting bent while they labored to bring their bountiful catch of reef-fish to the surface. They'd just massage each other to help relieve the annoying DCS hits they were taking.

Reality hit when the filmmakers later interviewed one of the elders of the community: he said it's not unusual for divers to be down 3-4 hours at 36 meters (118 ft) (the NDL for 100 ft is 20 minutes!). He also said he had a son who had been bent so many times that he ended up with a nervous system DCS hit (though the elder of course didn't call it that) and became paralyzed from the waist down. Losing his ability to contribute to his community, the son became depressed and hung himself.

These people don't really have a choice: this is one of their few options to make enough money to support themselves, and with their catches getting less and less bountiful (thanks largely to overfishing of the ocean), they have to dive more and more often just to make ends meet.

Quite an impactful segment.

 

[DonCebu]

and with their catches getting less and less bountiful (thanks largely to overfishing of the ocean),

More like they can thank themselves for years of distructive fishing methods.

The favoured methods are homemade fertiliser bombs and potassium cyanide and muroami.


The muroami fishing technique, uses an encircling net together with pounding devices. These devices usually comprise large stones fitted on ropes that are pounded onto the coral reefs.The pounding devices are repeatedly and violently lowered into the area encircled by the net, literally smashing the coral in that area into small fragments in order to scare the fish out of their coral refuges.