Geoduck diver injured

[SeanQ]

Read this in the local paper.

Clam diver injured as boat ignores safety flag, runs over air hose
Matt Hartley, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, August 24, 2006

A Vancouver Island geoduck diver was airlifted to a Lower Mainland hospital and placed in a hyperbaric chamber after a fishing boat ran over his air hose, dragging him to the surface and rendering him nearly unconscious.

Angus MacDonald, 28, of Courtenay, was diving for geoducks -- large saltwater clams -- under 15 metres of water in Friendly Cove near Nootka Sound Tuesday while his uncle Greg supervised from the surface. A large section of the air hose was floating on top of the water.

A sportfishing boat ignored the red-and-white dive flag they were flying from the bow, came too close and ran over his nephew's air hose, said Greg MacDonald.

"He had to bail out."

By the time Angus resurfaced a few moments later, he was mumbling and drifting in and out of consciousness, showing signs of decompression sickness.

If a diver ascends too quickly from deep water, the sudden change in pressure can cause nitrogen bubbles to form in bodily fluids and tissues, causing decompression sickness sometimes called "the bends."

MacDonald hauled his nephew out of the water and sped to the Nootka Light Station where a B.C. Ambulance helicopter met them and airlifted Angus to hospital in Campbell River.

From there, he was taken to Vancouver General Hospital's hyperbaric unit, where he was placed in a high-pressure chamber and given 100 per cent oxygen to combat the bends. On Wednesday he remained under observation.

MacDonald said this wasn't the first time a boat came too close to where he and his nephew were trying to dive. He estimates he shooed away upward of 80 boats over the four days they had been working in the area.

"There's a real lack of education in the marine community about what we do and what it entails," he said. "We're trying to make a living here; the law states you have to stay 100 metres away from a dive operation. But nobody listens because people are catching fish right there."

It could be more than a month before it's safe for his nephew to get back to diving, so for now MacDonald is going to need to find another diving partner if he hopes to meet his quotas and stay in business.

WorkSafeBC and the Transportation Safety Board have been told of the incident and are considering launching investigations to determine whether the divers or the fishing boat acted inappropriately.

According to the Underwater Harvesters' Association, more than 1.5 million kilograms of geoducks are harvested off the coast of B.C. every year. Most are shipped to China and Japan where they are considered delicacies.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006

 

[super opus]

can the capton of the other boat(that come to closse to the dive ship) be held for grose indagemnt of life how much i hate to say this but they need to crack down on boaters not falling the laws if they have to fry a few ppl to get the point acrose so be it

 

[wedivebc]

Dive boats need to start carrying shotguns. Then we'll see people respect a dive flag boundary

 

[dive_lover88]

Hope he'll be alright...

 

[Sasquatch]

It sounds like Friendly Cove wasn't.

Hoping for a speedy recovery, that was a close, close call.

 

[DennisW]

Many people have no clue what a dive flag is or means. Once when doing a float dive out of South Florida, our charter captain actually had to put his bow over the bow of another boat to keep them from running us down. The boats actually made contact and the charter captain told the sport boater that he would be sunk if he moved anywhere but backwards.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Agree with the shotgun suggestion. Hope the injured man makes a full and speedy recovery. As for the sport boat I hope he hits a rock and puts a nice big hole in his bottom.

 

[FFMDiver]

Hope he is ok.
Here in Indiana we had a cigarette boat obliterate an old couple's boat. They were toast.
Are sport boaters similar to the NASCAR crowd?:beer_yum: How fustrating.

 

[*Floater*]

Was this a hit and run or did the fishing boat stick around?

 

[Jamie_r]

Was this a hit and run or did the fishing boat stick around?

Good question.
:shakehead