In ecology, commensalism is a class of relationship between two organisms where one organism benefits but the other is unaffected. There are three other types of association: mutualism (where both organisms benefit), competition (where both organisms are harmed), and parasitism (one organism benefits and the other one is harmed).
Which describes DEMA's relationship with diving is a matter of perspective. From the perspective of most manufacturers the relationship is likely one of mutualism or at worst commensalism. From my perspective, DEMA is parasitic, consuming resources in excess of what they give back.
It is part of the same old problem, cronyism and laziness. DEMA and most of the training agencies, can be lumped together as the "policy makers" as opposed to the manufacturers (including the training agencies here in their role as publisher) who produce something. The policy makers have been bought off by free tropical vacations and the use of such opportunities to feather their own individual media nest or their employers', so that now when you look around there is almost no representation of non-tropical diving in the industry, not in the ads, not in the texts, it's just not there, except in the context of diving some place special. Resort diving is portrayed as the norm. This has been going on for so long that most of the folks don't even notice it. I was guilty of it for a while, and there were a few years where my flights to islands were free, I stayed in free rooms, I dove for nothing, etc. It's a rather heady experience and it is easy to get sucked in. I suspect that the only reasons that I did not were that I had access to other ways to dive for free and my real work kept pulling me back into non-resort, non-tropical diving.
The manufacturers just want to sell gear ... that's their rice bowl. They're as happy to sell you gear to dive in Northern California as they are in Cayman, maybe happier, because you need more gear in Northern California, but that's not the way the "Policy Makers" go, they like the resorts, not because that's what good for diving but because that's where they feel most comfortable and important. Like a snake eating it's tail it feeds on itself until it is all gone, and that day appears to be on the horizon.
Local consumer shows are cool ... I love them and I think that they serve a real purpose for the community and for the industry. Booking shows like DEMA are increasingly irrelevant as internet purchases and just in time inventory programs become more and more prevalent. I see a future where the local dive shop becomes the local diving club or training facility with most individual purchases being made on the internet or through bulk buys by the club or facility on behalf of its members or clients. Where will people get to actually see and touch the gear? Sponsored demo days and local shows!
