If you were to redo the scuba industry how would you do it?

[lexvil]

How about changing it to the same model as the ski industry, snow or water. Buy your stuff and go enjoy yourself.

 

[Vicko]

Should we rework the whole industry?
Scuba industry works just fine in the rest of the world, sure there is a couple of questionable aspects but would overengineering solutions for them help?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Should we rework the whole industry?
Scuba industry works just fine in the rest of the world, sure there is a couple of questionable aspects but would overengineering solutions for them help?

I don’t think anything is really being over engineered. Nothing in training would need to change other than tweeking a few outdated practices and also passing people who shouldn’t have been passed. By breaking up the training sector and the certification sector you are stopping in house corruption. I see that as a great thing. Prices will go up but that is long overdue anyway.
Instructors complain about low pay. Well, if they worked FOR a dive shop or dive school then they would be on the clock with all employment laws in effect. If they were independent and known to be good then they could charge what they want. I only see positives.
If price is a concern then maybe the industry overall needs to be smaller and better? Why does the sport need to be flooded with incompetent divers, ones who cheated or where cheated by a self regulating industry that has a record of poor quality control and slipping people through. What good does that do for anybody? Other than a few stuffing their pockets with cash.
I personally think it would grow with corruption free check and balance system that would improve quality and competence.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

How about changing it to the same model as the ski industry, snow or water. Buy your stuff and go enjoy yourself.

I like that too.
I started a thread a long time ago about why do divers need to be certified. I can’t remember if the thread went completely off the tracks and got shut down. I seem to be pretty good at starting controversial threads that go off the cliff.
Anyway, yeah man, go find a copy of “The New Science of Skin and SCUBA Diving”, buy some gear, a compressor/tanks, and knock yourself out. No law against it!
Get bent or blow up your lungs, drown, it’s entirely on the individual.
Won’t be able to get on a boat but oh well, plenty of good shore diving around.

 

[runsongas]

because the risk of skiing into a tree or being buried in an avalanche and dying is lower than drowning in the ocean. NSAA vs DAN statistics put deaths per 100k at nearly 10X higher for scuba.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I like that too.
I started a thread a long time ago about why do divers need to be certified. I can’t remember if the thread went completely off the tracks and got shut down. I seem to be pretty good at starting controversial threads that go off the cliff.

well yeah, getting people to talk from both sides of their mouths is always fun

Anyway, yeah man, go find a copy of “The New Science of Skin and SCUBA Diving”, buy some gear, a compressor/tanks, and knock yourself out. No law against it!
Get bent or blow up your lungs, drown, it’s entirely on the individual.

I wonder how common this was back in the day.

Won’t be able to get on a boat but oh well, plenty of good shore diving around.

Bingo.

 

[Vicko]

Instructors and certifications are not the crux of the scuba industry, I really don't understand why people consider them so important.
Destination dive sites are where the money is, they create the most jobs and create a huge demand, local instructors in the US are not even on the map of the scuba industry as a whole.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Instructors and certifications are not the crux of the scuba industry, I really don't understand why people consider them so important.
Destination dive sites are where the money is, they create the most jobs and create a huge demand, local instructors in the US are not even on the map of the scuba industry as a whole.

That’s not what I see being a local diver. I’m looking at the local dive scene. I have no idea what goes on in dive destinations, warm water, lots of tourists, etc. I you say everything is just fine and needs no change then great! I’ll take your word for it.
I went to GBR in 1999 and Hawaii in 2001 and that’s it for my warm water diving. From what I saw on the GBR was pretty scary with most of the boat being asian tourists that was a F-ing clown show. I actually felt pretty ripped off. Hawaii was mediocre at best with the open water class that was on board that day.
From what I gather reading scubaboard and such is that it could be better. We get people that want to dive here for the first time that were certified in Hawaii or Caribbean and they are not ready to handle this environment without some serious improvements. Even though there is supposed to be a standard there really isn’t. They tailor the instruction to the environment and provide the minimal training needed so they don’t die. This is the two day course that everyone talks about. It used to be a three day course.
Here it is four days.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Instructors and certifications are not the crux of the scuba industry, I really don't understand why people consider them so important.
Destination dive sites are where the money is, they create the most jobs and create a huge demand, local instructors in the US are not even on the map of the scuba industry as a whole.

I see the industry scrounging for every cent they can get. I don't have the data to what significance the US and Canadian markets are. I would make an unqualified guess that most Americans and Canadians travel to get certified and dive. But training and equipment sales in the US and Canada are still important to the industry.

 

[Fishdip]

If you were to throw out the current structure of the entire scuba industry and re-do it, how would you do it?

Here’s what I would do as a start:

You go to a dive school of your choice. That could be a current agency like PADI, NAUI, SSI, or others. Either an established school or a private certified instructor. You can supplement your training and knowledge with written materials, books, etc. mentors, but you would need a signed training sheet filled out by a certified instructor/instructing agency to get to the next step.
When your skills are good are you are ready, you go to a separate certification agency that is for certification only and you go for your test. There is a pool portion, a written portion, and an open water portion. You book your appointment.
The testing is on a pass or fail basis and there is no cheating. Either you can do the skills and pass the exam or you don’t. And of course there is a fee for the cert test.
The employees of the cert agency are not affiliated with any if the scuba schools, the cert agency is completely independent.
In this environment, the teaching of scuba and the certification would be separated.
This would create the opposite effect of what we have now of the easiest least path of resistance effect. It would create a culture of quality to be sure that students would be able to pass the exams set by the cert agency. Those schools/instructors with crappy teaching and rounding corners would soon be gone because they wouldn’t be training people adequately enough to pass the tests. Their Yelp reviews would suck and nobody would go there.

There was another thread in which a lot of corruption was mentioned within agencies with the idea that it’s the fox guarding the hen house. Having one agency teach AND certify students with no real outside oversight leads to a lot of poor training and a cattle drive of student certifications. I agree with this, I think this does lead to corruption and poorly trained students and the only oversee’er at this point is the legal system in the form of law suits when someone dies or gets maimed, after the fact.
If the industry was broken up and the final certification was issued by a non affiliated agency it would introduce a check and balance system which I think this industry desperately needs.

Discuss.

So you want to kill Scuba? The way you made this makes it sound like 100s of deaths are taking place every day. Yes 1000% you have instructors who stop caring but what you are talking about would make scuba such a small sport.