DIR- GUE GUE's work with governments and local authorities

[mariosx]

Consider the following:

The GUE scientific diver certification gives access to the European scientific diving certification; you can get the certificate even without GUE. Diogo Paulo is the reference for this course, and he likely knows quite a lot about these problems.

Be aware that one thing is if you are "working" for a university - another is if you are an external person and you are volunteering. In Sardinia, with Mara, most projects are citizen science projects - so there is no problem with insurance, certification, etc. You just go, document what you do, and if it's fine from a scientific standpoint some researchers will use it (of course, there is often an agreement in advance). To make it clear: the divers are not paid in any way, and they are not associated with any university.

I believe that if you want to be associated to a research entity of any kind, you'll need some form of certification and insurance

Thanks for the info! I was also considering volunteering myself or use "others", but is simply not allowed, due to the highly supportive worker legislation in Norway. Somebody has to get paid somehow, and the organization would be assuming some risk. That risk is being delegated to diving companies for a high price tag, but I hope we can bypass this.

I already contacted Rich (great guy, quick at responding). I guess Diogo might be my next target. (This sounded more sinister that I would like)

 

[Dex~]

Thanks for the info! I was also considering volunteering myself or use "others", but is simply not allowed, due to the highly supportive worker legislation in Norway. Somebody has to get paid somehow, and the organization would be assuming some risk. That risk is being delegated to diving companies for a high price tag, but I hope we can bypass this.

I already contacted Rich (great guy, quick at responding). I guess Diogo might be my next target. (This sounded more sinister that I would like)

Diogo is very nice guy, and he's a professor too. I did my scientific class with him few years ago, and i am pretty sure he can support you as well, since he's working for a university himself

 

[Imla]

You should contact Gunnar Midtgaard. GUE CCR2 instructor. He works in the Norwegian Diving Assosiation NDF and one of his main responsibilities is the cooperation between NDF, Instructors and the Authorities.
It is true, the Norwegian legislation is bonkers and is only geared on high intensity diving activities. Mainly deep/scallop/saturation. Divin-instruction, archaeology and other lighter activities are shoved into the same legislation with little regard to wether the safety measures are just or over the top.

 

[Edward3c]

Awesome. Thanks for the super quick reply. I know Ricardo by proxy but not Andrea or Dorota. The problem is that I am not in the US anymore but in Norway, though I will go to the US 3-4 times until May, so passing from High-Springs wouldn't be too difficult.

Do you thing Dorota might be the most "responsible" on this? I assume that she will have experience advertising more professionally the organization and she is pretty active, so I was a bit more hesitant to reach. If you thing she is my best choice I can check with her.

Sam Meacham is also in my list, since I know that CINDAQ has been very convincing with the Mexican authorities.

In the U.K. all diving, except pure fun diving is governed by the Diving at Work Regulations, overseen by the Health & Safety Executive. Recreational diving qualifications are accepted, providing they meet ISO accreditation. That way no agency has an advantage.

I would be surprised if Norway is too much different.

 

[mariosx]

In the U.K. all diving, except pure fun diving is governed by the Diving at Work Regulations, overseen by the Health & Safety Executive. Recreational diving qualifications are accepted, providing they meet ISO accreditation. That way no agency has an advantage.

I would be surprised if Norway is too much different.

Unofortunatelly, my Norwegian are still in pre-infancy stage so I am relying on bad google translation and our legal team... It seems that Norway takes it a bit to the extreme, but I truly can see myself lobbying demanding changes if needed. I hope you are correct though.

 

[mariosx]

You should contact Gunnar Midtgaard. GUE CCR2 instructor. He works in the Norwegian Diving Assosiation NDF and one of his main responsibilities is the cooperation between NDF, Instructors and the Authorities.
It is true, the Norwegian legislation is bonkers and is only geared on high intensity diving activities. Mainly deep/scallop/saturation. Divin-instruction, archaeology and other lighter activities are shoved into the same legislation with little regard to wether the safety measures are just or over the top.

Great! This might be actually the best person to contact. I will try to reach him the sooner possible. Your last 2 sentences are a bit scary, and unfortunately match with the vibes I am getting. I 'll check with him and hopefully he doesn't sound too hopeless.

 

[Imla]

Great! This might be actually the best person to contact. I will try to reach him the sooner possible. Your last 2 sentences are a bit scary, and unfortunately match with the vibes I am getting. I 'll check with him and hopefully he doesn't sound too hopeless.

Unfortunately, the legislation took a turn for the worse a few years ago when they consolidated several laws/pretexts to laws into one "doesn't fit any" law about commercial diving. The problem is that they define anything that involves pay or equipment as commercial diving. And the law for example demands a team of 4 and often surface supply or at least comms for even the silliest of things. Marine biology and archeology is especially suffering.

There are however a few small loopholes. NDF has gotten acceptance for their ghost-fishing initiatives. The clubs get paid, the divers are volunteers and there are strict boundaries on the tools the divers are allowed to use. There are also clubs that are involved in citizen science projects.

 

[Edward3c]

Unofortunatelly, my Norwegian are still in pre-infancy stage so I am relying on bad google translation and our legal team... It seems that Norway takes it a bit to the extreme, but I truly can see myself lobbying demanding changes if needed. I hope you are correct though.

The minimum recreational qualification accepted is EN 14153-3/ISO 24801-3 - 'Dive Leader'; it used to be CMAS 3*.

 

[mariosx]

Thanks guys. I am willing to dig deep on this, and you have provided far more great info and contacts that I was hoping for.

 

[mariosx]

Update: I contacted and had awesome but also demoralizing discussions with the people recommended in this thread (thanks y'all). Scientific diving in Norway seems really strict, my team and I, have decided to focus for now on other areas of research.
The only workaround I found was volunteering as a diver for experiments in labs in other countries with different legislation, which we may have unofficial collaboration.

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Minor flame: Commercial divers are keep dying for being placed in underwater deathtraps. At the same time, any research that tries to minimize such deaths and requires participation of divers is in practice financially infeasible with horrific logistics. I hope that this blind spot, on a generally well organized and regulated country, would be illustrated at some point.