First and foremost, I don't know that I've posted this in the correct category --- but it made the most sense (to me) based on the selections.
SCUBA Diving is a self-policing industry. I know this may stir the pot a bit, but I would like your honest opinion.....what does this mean to you? Do you agree with it? If you could change anything, what might it be?
What I mean is this; as SCUBA divers we put ourselves into potentially precarious situations, at will, and we rely on our personal knowledge & our equipment to keep us alive at depth. BUT all of our certification cards (outside of professional certifications req'd for paid work) are merely suggestions. It is *NOT* illegal to SCUBA dive without being certified. It is *NOT* illegal for a shop to sell you gear - or fill your tanks - if you are not certified. If someone takes you out on their boat, and you choose to dive, there are *NO* laws against this. Hell, you can order a set of doubles w/ manifold AND a drysuit AND anything else you might find online, then have it shipped to your door, put everything together based on YouTube videos & you can literally enter a deadly cave system and nobody will stop you. Nobody, including other cave divers, will check you. Essentially it is unregulated. Despite dozens of "regulatory" SCUBA agencies existing. This is unlike any other industry that I am familiar with. (This isn't to say that a specific LDS won't make their own rules & abide by them, but I am speaking from a standpoint of legality and morality.)
I can see both sides of the coin here. I am 110% in favor of minimal regulations, especially when it comes to government. I hold the personal belief that (as long as I am not harming anyone besides myself) -- that MY business is MY business. But where/when do we consider someone who may be a danger to themselves? If you witnessed truly uninformed (or worse, negligent) behavior by another diver in your vicinity, what is your course of action? Everything you can do to keep this person out of the water? Nothing at all? Somewhere in between?
And when it comes to the factor of morals...do you consider preventing a (potentially dangerous) diver from entering the water, to be of high moral standing? OR...do you consider allowing an individual to make their own decisions and perform their own risk assessment, to be of high moral standing?
Discuss.
SCUBA Diving is a self-policing industry. I know this may stir the pot a bit, but I would like your honest opinion.....what does this mean to you? Do you agree with it? If you could change anything, what might it be?
What I mean is this; as SCUBA divers we put ourselves into potentially precarious situations, at will, and we rely on our personal knowledge & our equipment to keep us alive at depth. BUT all of our certification cards (outside of professional certifications req'd for paid work) are merely suggestions. It is *NOT* illegal to SCUBA dive without being certified. It is *NOT* illegal for a shop to sell you gear - or fill your tanks - if you are not certified. If someone takes you out on their boat, and you choose to dive, there are *NO* laws against this. Hell, you can order a set of doubles w/ manifold AND a drysuit AND anything else you might find online, then have it shipped to your door, put everything together based on YouTube videos & you can literally enter a deadly cave system and nobody will stop you. Nobody, including other cave divers, will check you. Essentially it is unregulated. Despite dozens of "regulatory" SCUBA agencies existing. This is unlike any other industry that I am familiar with. (This isn't to say that a specific LDS won't make their own rules & abide by them, but I am speaking from a standpoint of legality and morality.)
I can see both sides of the coin here. I am 110% in favor of minimal regulations, especially when it comes to government. I hold the personal belief that (as long as I am not harming anyone besides myself) -- that MY business is MY business. But where/when do we consider someone who may be a danger to themselves? If you witnessed truly uninformed (or worse, negligent) behavior by another diver in your vicinity, what is your course of action? Everything you can do to keep this person out of the water? Nothing at all? Somewhere in between?
And when it comes to the factor of morals...do you consider preventing a (potentially dangerous) diver from entering the water, to be of high moral standing? OR...do you consider allowing an individual to make their own decisions and perform their own risk assessment, to be of high moral standing?
Discuss.