Diving activities
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Diving activities are the things people do while diving underwater. People may dive for various reasons, both personal and professional. While a newly qualified recreational diver may dive purely for the experience of diving, most divers have some additional reason for being underwater. Recreational diving is purely for enjoyment and has several specialisations and technical disciplines to provide more scope for varied activities for which specialist training can be offered, such as
cave diving Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers or, as in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, other ...
, wreck diving,
ice diving Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
and deep diving. Several underwater sports are available for exercise and competition. There are various aspects of professional diving that range from part-time work to lifelong careers. Professionals in the recreational diving industry include instructor trainers, diving instructors, assistant instructors,
divemaster A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory respo ...
s, dive guides, and scuba technicians. A
scuba diving tourism Scuba diving tourism is the industry based on servicing the requirements of recreational divers at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and environmental t ...
industry has developed to service recreational diving in regions with popular dive sites. Commercial diving is industry related and includes civil engineering tasks such as in oil exploration, offshore construction, dam maintenance and harbour works. Commercial divers may also be employed to perform tasks related to marine activities, such as
naval diving Professional diving is underwater diving where the divers are paid for their work. The procedures are often regulated by legislation and codes of practice as it is an inherently hazardous occupation and the diver works as a member of a team. Du ...
,
ships husbandry Ships husbandry or ship husbandry is all aspects of maintenance, cleaning, and general upkeep of the hull, rigging, and equipment of a ship. It may also be used to refer to aspects of maintenance which are not specifically covered by the technica ...
,
marine salvage Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, re-floating a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship. Today, protecting the coastal environment from ...
or
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
. Other specialist areas of diving include military diving, with a long history of military frogmen in various roles. They can perform roles including direct combat, reconnaissance, infiltration behind enemy lines, placing mines, bomb disposal or engineering operations. In civilian operations, police diving units perform search and rescue operations, and recover evidence. In some cases diver rescue teams may also be part of a
fire department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
,
paramedical service Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...
,
sea rescue Sea rescue may refer to: * Air-sea rescue * Maritime search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many speci ...
or
lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED first a ...
unit, and this may be classed as
public safety diving Public safety diving is underwater diving conducted as part of law enforcement and search and rescue. Public safety divers differ from recreational, scientific and commercial divers who can generally plan the date, time, and location of a dive, ...
. There are also professional media divers such as underwater photographers and
videographers Videography is the process of capturing moving images on electronic media (e.g., videotape, direct to disk recording, or solid state storage) and even streaming media. The term includes methods of video production and post-production. It us ...
, who record the underwater world, and scientific divers in fields of study which involve the underwater environment, including
marine biologists Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifie ...
, geologists,
hydrologists Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...
, oceanographers and underwater archaeologists. The choice between scuba and surface-supplied diving equipment is based on both legal and logistical constraints. Where the diver requires mobility and a large range of movement, scuba is usually the choice if safety and legal constraints allow. Higher risk work, particularly commercial diving, may be restricted to surface-supplied equipment by legislation and codes of practice.


Diving procedures

The standard procedures and activities essential to safe diving in the chosen
diving mode Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context ...
, using the chosen diving equipment, and in the chosen
diving environment The diving environment is the natural or artificial surroundings in which a dive is done. It is usually underwater, but professional diving is sometimes done in other liquids. Underwater diving is the human practice of voluntarily descending be ...
are inherently part of the activities of a dive. Monitoring the dive profile, gas supplies, decompression status, relative positions of the divers and communication associated with these are all standard operating procedures. Contingency procedures associated with the diving mode, equipment and foreseeable diversions from the dive plan may also be necessary. These activities may be considered as occurring in the background, as in most cases they are not the reason for the dive.


Navigation

Navigation is a common activity during dives. Diver navigation, termed "underwater navigation" by scuba divers, is a set of techniques—including observing natural features, the use of a compass, and surface observations—that divers use to
navigate Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
underwater. Free-divers do not spend enough time underwater for navigation to be important, and surface supplied divers are limited in the distance they can travel by the length of their umbilicals and are usually directed from the surface control point. On those occasions when they need to navigate they can use the same methods used by scuba divers. When it is critical for safety to return to a specific place, a distance line is generally used. This may be laid and left in place for other divers, or recovered on the return leg. Use of distance lines is standard in
penetration diving Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on contex ...
, where the divers cannot ascend directly to the surface at all times, and it is possible to lose track of the route out to .


Searches

Searches are a fairly common diving activity, and may be the primary purpose of the dive, part of a more complex activity plan, or incidental. Underwater searches are procedures to find a known or suspected target object or objects in a specified search area under water. A search method attempts to provide full coverage of the search area, by using a search pattern, which should completely cover the search area without excessive redundancy or missed areas.


Operation of special equipment

A diver propulsion vehicle is a type of diving equipment sometimes used by scuba divers to increase range underwater. Range is restricted by the amount of breathing gas that can be carried, the rate at which that breathing gas is consumed, and the battery power of the DPV. Time limits imposed on the diver by decompression requirements may also limit safe range in practice. DPVs have recreational, scientific and military applications.


Exploration

There is often an element of exploration in diving activity, as it is common to dive in an unfamiliar place. This exploration may be casual or focused on gathering information which can be shared or recorded and published for use by others. A large part of the waters accessible to divers remains virtually unknown, and has not been surveyed or mapped in detail, and in many cases, has not yet been visited by divers. Exploration has been identified as one of the major motivations for recreational diving, but it is mostly casual and seldom results in recorded reports which can be of use to others.


Underwater work

Underwater work is usually done by professional divers who are paid for their work. The
procedures Procedure may refer to: * Medical procedure * Instructions or recipes, a set of commands that show how to achieve some result, such as to prepare or make something * Procedure (business), specifying parts of a business process * Standard operati ...
are often regulated by legislation and codes of practice as it is an inherently hazardous occupation and the diver works as a member of a team. Due to the dangerous nature of some professional diving operations, specialized equipment such as an on-site hyperbaric chamber and diver-to-surface communication system is often required by law, and the mode of diving for some applications may be regulated. There are several branches of professional diving, the best known of which is probably commercial diving and its specialised applications. There are also applications in scientific research, marine archaeology, fishing and
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
, public service, law enforcement, military service, media work and diver training. Specialist training may be required for some aspects of this work.


Commercial diving

Commercial diving may be considered an application of professional diving where the diver engages in underwater work for industrial, construction, engineering, maintenance or other commercial purposes which are similar to work done out of the water, and where the diving is usually secondary to the work.


Offshore diving

Commercial offshore diving, sometimes shortened to just offshore diving, generally refers to the branch of commercial diving, with divers working in support of the exploration and production sector of the
oil and gas industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest ...
. The work in this area of the industry includes maintenance of
oil platform An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...
s and the building of underwater structures. In this context "" implies that the diving work is done outside of
national boundaries Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...
. Technically it also refers to any diving done in the international offshore waters outside of the territorial waters of a state, where national legislation does not apply. Most commercial offshore diving is in the exclusive economic zone of a state, and much of it is outside the territorial waters. The type of work includes tasks such as wellhead completion, submarine pipeline monitoring and inspection, assembly of manifolds and work on moorings, including
rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support a sailing ship or sail boat's masts—''standing rigging'', including shrouds and stays—and which adjust the position of the vessel's sails and spars to which they are ...
, lifting, and assembly of components.


Salvage diving

Salvage diving is the diving work associated with
marine salvage Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, re-floating a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship. Today, protecting the coastal environment from ...
, the recovery of all or part of ships, their cargoes, aircraft, and other vehicles and structures which have sunk or fallen into water. In the case of ships it may also refer to repair work done to make an
abandoned Abandon, abandoned, or abandonment may refer to: Common uses * Abandonment (emotional), a subjective emotional state in which people feel undesired, left behind, insecure, or discarded * Abandonment (legal), a legal term regarding property ** Chi ...
or distressed but still floating vessel more suitable for towing or propulsion under its own power. The recreational/technical activity known as wreck diving is generally not considered salvage work, though some recovery of artifacts may be done by recreational divers. Most salvage diving is commercial or military work, depending on the diving contractor and the purpose for the salvage operation, Similar underwater work may be done by divers as part of forensic investigations into accidents, in which case the procedures may be more closely allied with underwater archaeology than the more basic procedures of advantageous cost/benefit expected in commercial and military operations.


Hazmat diving

Hazmat diving generally refers to the presence of hazardous materials in the diving environment, but some classes of underwater work are inherently in a hazardous materials environment, including
nuclear diving Hazmat diving is underwater diving in a known hazardous materials environment. The environment may be contaminated by hazardous materials, the diving medium may be inherently a hazardous material, or the environment in which the diving medium is ...
and sewer diving.


Underwater inspection

Inspection of underwater structures, installations, and sites is a common professional diving activity, applicable to planning, installation, and maintenance phases, but the required skills are often specific to the application. Much use is made of video and still photographic evidence, and live video to allow direction of the inspection work by the supervisor and topside specialists. Inspections may also involve surface preparation, often by cleaning, and non-destructive testing.


Potable water diving

Potable water diving is diving inside a tank that is used for potable water. This is usually done for inspection and cleaning tasks. A person who is trained to do this work may be described as a potable water diver. The risks to the diver associated with potable water diving are related to the access, confined spaces and outlets for the water. The risk of contamination of the water is managed by isolating the diver in a clean dry-suit and helmet or full-face mask which are decontaminated before the dive.


Ships husbandry

Ships husbandry is all aspects of maintenance, cleaning, and general upkeep of the
hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...
,
rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support a sailing ship or sail boat's masts—''standing rigging'', including shrouds and stays—and which adjust the position of the vessel's sails and spars to which they are ...
, and equipment of a ship. It may also be used to refer to aspects of maintenance which are not specifically covered by the technical departments. The term is used in both naval and merchant shipping, but 'naval vessel husbandry' may also be used for specific reference to naval vessels. Underwater ships husbandry includes hull cleaning, inspection, and some kinds of repair work.


Underwater construction

Underwater construction is
industrial construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and co ...
in an underwater environment. There is often, but not necessarily, a significant component of commercial diving involved. It is a part of the
marine construction Marine construction is the process of building structures in or adjacent to large bodies of water, usually the sea. These structures can be built for a variety of purposes, including transportation, energy production, and recreation. Marine constr ...
industry. Concrete work is a common component of underwater construction, and may involve site clearing and preparation by
suction dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
,
airlift An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distanc ...
ing, high pressure and abrasive waterjetting, in-water surface cleaning using brushcarts, shuttering and formwork, bagwork, and setup of reinforcement. Underwater concrete placement may be by tremie, pumped concrete, skip placement, or toggle bags. Concrete repair, and assembly of pre-cast components often involves grouting. Other work may include fitting fixing bolts by drilling and core drilling, pipe installation (outfalls), pipeline support and protection, using mattresses for ballast and scour protection, and
underwater welding Hyperbaric welding is the process of welding at elevated pressures, normally underwater. Hyperbaric welding can either take place ''wet'' in the water itself or ''dry'' inside a specially constructed positive pressure enclosure and hence a dr ...
.


Underwater mining and mineral extraction

* Underwater mining *Diamonds off the Orange River mouth *Amber in the Baltic sea (historical) *Gold in rivers


Military diving

Underwater divers may be employed in any branch of an armed force, including the navy, army, marines, air force and coast guard. Scope of operations includes: search and recovery,
search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
, hydrographic survey, explosive ordnance disposal,
demolition Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...
, underwater engineering, salvage,
ships husbandry Ships husbandry or ship husbandry is all aspects of maintenance, cleaning, and general upkeep of the hull, rigging, and equipment of a ship. It may also be used to refer to aspects of maintenance which are not specifically covered by the technica ...
, reconnaissance, infiltration, sabotage, counterinfiltration, underwater combat and
security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...
.
Clearance diving A clearance diver was originally a specialist naval diver who used explosives underwater to remove obstructions to make harbours and shipping channels safe to navigate, but the term "clearance diver" was later used to include other naval und ...
, the removal of obstructions and hazards to navigation, is closely related to salvage diving, but has a different purpose, in that the objects to be removed are not intended to be recovered, just removed or reduced to a condition where they no longer constitute a hazard or obstruction. Many of the techniques and procedures used in clearance diving are also used in salvage work.
Submarine rescue Submarine rescue is the process of locating a sunk submarine with survivors on board, and bringing the survivors to safety. This may be done by recovering the vessel to the surface first, or by transferring the trapped personnel to a rescue bell o ...
is the process of locating a sunk
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
with survivors on board, and bringing the survivors to safety. This may be done by recovering the vessel to the surface first, or by transferring the trapped personnel to a
rescue bell A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers from the surface to depth and back in open water, usually for the purpose of performing underwater work. The most common types are the open-bottomed wet bell and the closed bell, which c ...
or deep-submergence rescue vehicle to bring them to the surface. Submarine rescue may be done at pressures between ambient at depth, and sea level atmospheric pressure, depending on the condition of the disabled vessel and the equipment used for the rescue. Associated diving work may include preparing the submarine for access by a rescue bell or rescue submersible, if the depth allows human intervention. Recent developments tend to favour the use of remotely operated vehicles dedicated to this application.


Public service

Public safety diving Public safety diving is underwater diving conducted as part of law enforcement and search and rescue. Public safety divers differ from recreational, scientific and commercial divers who can generally plan the date, time, and location of a dive, ...
is underwater diving conducted as part of law enforcement and
search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
. Their work includes underwater rescue, underwater recovery and underwater investigation conducted by divers working for or under the authority of municipal, state or federal agencies. These divers are typically members of police departments, sheriff's offices, fire rescue agencies, search and rescue teams or providers of emergency medical services. Public safety divers differ from recreational, scientific and commercial divers who can generally plan the date, time, and location of a dive, and dive only if the conditions are conducive to the task. Public safety divers respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and may be required to dive in the middle of the night, during inclement weather, in zero visibility "black water," or in waters polluted by chemicals and biohazards. Much of their work involves
Underwater searches Underwater searches are procedures to find a known or suspected target object or objects in a specified search area under water. They may be carried out underwater by divers, manned submersibles, remotely operated underwater vehicles, or autonomous ...
. Police diving is a branch of professional diving carried out by police services. Police divers are usually sworn police officers, and may either be employed full-time as divers or as general
water police Water police, also called harbor patrols, port police, marine/maritime police, nautical patrols, bay constables, river police, or maritime law enforcement or coastal police are police officers, usually a department of a larger police organizat ...
officers, or be volunteers who usually serve in other units but are called in if their diving services are required. The duties carried out by police divers include rescue diving for underwater casualties and search and recovery diving for
evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...
and bodies.


Scientific

Scientific diving is the use of underwater diving techniques by scientists to perform work underwater in the direct pursuit of scientific knowledge. Scientific divers are normally qualified scientists first and divers second, who use diving equipment and techniques as their way to get to the location of their fieldwork. The direct observation and manipulation of marine habitats afforded to scuba-equipped scientists have transformed the marine sciences generally, and
marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...
and marine chemistry in particular.
Underwater archeology Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance has ...
and geology are other examples of sciences pursued underwater. Some scientific diving is carried out by universities in support of undergraduate or postgraduate research programs, and government bodies such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the UK
Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
carry out scientific diving to recover samples of water, marine organisms and sea, lake or
riverbed A stream bed or streambed is the bottom of a stream or river (bathymetry) or the physical confine of the normal water flow (channel). The lateral confines or channel margins are known as the stream banks or river banks, during all but flood st ...
material to examine for signs of pollution. Activities are widely varied and may include visual counts and measurements of organisms in situ, collection of samples,
underwater survey An underwater survey is a survey performed in an underwater environment or conducted remotely on an underwater object or region. Survey can have several meanings. The word originates in Medieval Latin with meanings of ''looking over'' and ''detail ...
s, photography, videography, video mosaicing, benthic coring, coral coring, and deployment, maintenance and retrieval of
scientific equipment A scientific instrument is a device or tool used for scientific purposes, including the study of both natural phenomena and theoretical research. History Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, an ...
. Surveys include site surveys, geological surveys, baseline and monitoring ecological surveys, which may involve the use of transect and quadrat methodology. A bibliographic analysis of papers published between 1995 and 2006 that have been supported by scientific diving shows that diving supports scientific research through efficient and targeted sampling. Activities include collection of specimen organisms and biological samples, observing and recording animal behaviour, quantitative surveys, ''in situ'' measurements, impact studies, ecological analyses, evaluation of techniques, mapping underwater areas, profiling geology, and deploying and retrieving underwater equipment.


Media and entertainment

Media diving is underwater diving in support of the media industries, including the practice of underwater photography and underwater cinematography and
underwater videography Underwater videography is the branch of electronic underwater photography concerned with capturing underwater moving images as a recreational diving, scientific, commercial, documentary, or filmmaking activity. History In 1909, Albert Samama ...
outside of normal recreational interests. Media diving is often carried out in support of television documentaries featuring underwater photography or footage. Media divers are normally highly skilled camera operators who use diving as a method to reach their workplace, although some underwater photographers start as recreational divers and move on to make a living from their hobby. Equipment in this field is varied with scuba and surface supplied equipment used, depending on requirements, but
rebreathers A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantially unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen is ...
are often used for wildlife related work as they are normally quiet, release few or no bubbles and allow the diver a lengthy bottom time with a reduced risk of frightening off the subject.


Tourism

Scuba diving tourism Scuba diving tourism is the industry based on servicing the requirements of recreational divers at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and environmental t ...
is the industry based on servicing the requirements of
recreational diver Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of r ...
s at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and
environmental tourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
. The diving activity most associated with work in the diving tourism industry is leading dives. Dive leader is the title of an internationally recognised recreational diving certification for the occupation of "dive guide", which is a specialist underwater application of " tour guide". Several other titles are also used, including "
Divemaster A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory respo ...
". This is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity,


Diver training

Diver training is the set of processes through which a person learns the necessary and desirable skills to
safely Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...
dive underwater within the scope of the
diver training standard A diver training standard is a document issued by a certification, registration regulation or quality assurance agency, that describes the prerequisites for participation, the aim of the training programme, the specific minimum competences that a c ...
relevant to the specific training programme. Most diver training follows procedures and schedules laid down in the associated training standard, in a formal training programme, and includes practical skills training in the safe use of the associated
equipment Equipment most commonly refers to a set of tools or other objects commonly used to achieve a particular objective. Different job Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and ...
in the specified underwater environment, and
assessment Assessment may refer to: Healthcare *Health assessment, identifies needs of the patient and how those needs will be addressed *Nursing assessment, gathering information about a patient's physiological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual s ...
of the required skills and knowledge deemed necessary by the certification agency to allow the newly certified diver to dive within the specified range of conditions at an acceptable level of risk. Practical training and assessment of skills largely occurs underwater, in the presence of a
diving instructor A diving instructor is a person who trains and usually also assesses competence of underwater divers. This includes freedivers, recreational divers including the subcategory technical divers, and professional divers which includes military, co ...
, who is responsible for the safety of the trainee while under instruction or assessment.


Aquaculture, fishing and harvesting of organisms underwater

Aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of
aquatic organism An aquatic animal is any animal, whether invertebrate or vertebrate, that lives in water for most or all of its lifetime. Many insects such as mosquitoes, mayflies, dragonflies and caddisflies have aquatic larvae, with winged adults. Aquatic anim ...
s such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks,
algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
and other organisms of value such as
aquatic plant Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...
s (e.g.
lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
). Aquaculture involves cultivating
freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
, brackish water and saltwater populations under controlled or semi-natural conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish. There are many underwater activities associated with aquaculture which can be done by divers, including monitoring stock health and fish pen maintenance. Spearfishing is a method of fishing that involves impaling the fish with a straight pointed object such as a spear,
gig Gig or GIG may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Gig'' (Circle Jerks album) (1992) * ''Gig'' (Northern Pikes album) (1993) * ''The Gig'', a 1985 film written and directed by Frank D. Gilroy * GIG, a character in ''Hot Wheels AcceleRacers'' ...
or harpoon. It has been deployed in artisanal fishing throughout the world for millennia. Modern spearfishing usually involves the use of underwater swimming gear and slingshot-like elastic powered spearguns or compressed gas powered pneumatic spearguns, which launch a tethered underwater
projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found in ...
to strike the target fish. Specialised techniques and equipment have been developed for various types of aquatic environments and target fish. Spearfishing may be done using free-diving, snorkelling or scuba diving techniques. Abalone, lobster, sea urchins and various other marine invertebrates can be collected by hand or with the assistance of hand tools while diving. Pearl hunting is the activity of recovering pearls from wild molluscs, usually oysters or mussels, in the sea or freshwater. Pearl hunting was prevalent in the Persian Gulf region and
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
for thousands of years. On the northern and north-western coast of Western Australia pearl diving began in the 1850s, where the term also covers diving for
nacre Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is f ...
or mother of pearl found in what were known as
pearl shell Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner seashell, shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and Iridescence, ...
s. In most cases the pearl-bearing molluscs live at depths where they are not manually accessible from the surface. Historically the molluscs were retrieved by freediving, When the
standard diving suit Standard diving dress, also known as hard-hat or copper hat equipment, deep sea diving suit or heavy gear, is a type of diving suit that was formerly used for all relatively deep underwater work that required more than breath-hold duration, which ...
became available it was applied to pearl hunting.
Sponge diving Sponge diving is underwater diving to collect soft natural sponges for human use. Background Most sponges are too rough for general use due to their structural spicules composed of calcium carbonate or silica. But two genera, ''Hippospongia'' ...
, is diving to collect soft natural sponges for human use as personal cleaning tools. It is one of the oldest known underwater diving activities, dating back to classical times, and was also originally a freediving activity which later made use of the standard diving helmet.


Recreational activities

Professional diving is done where the job is, but recreational divers have the freedom to choose where they dive, based on convenience, cost, their chosen underwater activities, and the characteristics of the environment at the available dive sites. Many recreational divers dive mainly in their home waters, but others will travel to sites where their preferences are more likely to be available.
Scuba diving tourism Scuba diving tourism is the industry based on servicing the requirements of recreational divers at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and environmental t ...
is the industry based on servicing the requirements of
recreational diver Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of r ...
s at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and
environmental tourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
. Motivations to travel for scuba diving are complex and may vary considerably during the diver's development and experience. Participation can vary from once off to multiple dedicated trips per year over several decades. The popular destinations fall into several groups, including tropical reefs, shipwrecks and cave systems, each frequented by its own group of enthusiasts, with some overlap. Temperate and inland open water reef sites are generally dived by people who live relatively nearby.
Shark tourism Shark tourism is a form of eco-tourism that allows people to dive with sharks in their natural environment. This benefits local shark populations by educating tourists and through funds raised by the shark tourism industry. Communities that previo ...
is a form of eco-tourism that allows people to dive with sharks in their natural environment. This benefits local shark populations by educating tourists and through funds raised by the shark tourism industry. People can get close to the sharks by freediving or scuba diving or by entering the water in a protective cage for more aggressive species.


Scuba activities

There are many recreational diving activities, and several equipment and environmental specialties which require skills additional to those provided by the entry level courses, These skills were originally developed by trial and error, but training programmes are offered by most diver training agencies for the convenience of the diver, and profit for the agency, or in the case of club oriented systems, for the overall benefit of the club communuty: * Cave and cavern diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers lost as a result of one of these activities. The equipment used varies depending on the circumstances, but almost all cave diving is done using
scuba equipment Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chri ...
, often in specialised configurations with redundancies. Recreational cave diving is generally considered to be a type of technical diving due to the lack of a free surface during large parts of the dive, and often involves planned decompression stops. A distinction is made by recreational diver training agencies between cave diving and cavern diving, where cavern diving is deemed to be diving in those parts of a cave where the exit to open water can be seen by natural light. An arbitrary distance limit to the open water surface may also be specified. * Muck diving gets its name from the sediment that lies on the bottom at many dive sites - a frequently muddy or "mucky" environment. Other than muddy sediment, the muck dive substrate may consist of dead coral skeletons,
garbage Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste produc ...
and natural detritus. The visibility is usually less than on the reef or wreck sites of the area. However, the sediment and detritus environment has a different ecology to the reef, and the "muck" substrate can be the habitat for unusual, exotic and juvenile organisms that are not found in the cleaner reef sites. * Recreational diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, and usually refers to scuba diving for recreational purposes, where the diver is not constrained from making a direct near-vertical ascent to the surface at any point during the dive, and risk is considered low. The equipment used for recreational diving is mostly open circuit scuba, though semi closed and fully automated electronic closed circuit rebreathers may be included in the scope of recreational diving. Risk is managed by training the diver in a range of standardised procedures and skills appropriate to the equipment the diver chooses to use and the environment in which the diver plans to dive. Further experience and development of skills by practice will inmprove the diver's ability to dive safely. Specialty training is made available by the recreational diver training industry and diving clubs to increase the range of environments and venues the diver can enjoy at an acceptable level of risk. Reasons to dive and preferred diving activities may vary during the personal development of a recreational diver, and may depend on their
psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...
profile and their level of dedication to the activity. Most divers average less than eight dives per year, but some total several thousand dives over a few decades and continue diving into their 60s and 70s, occasionally older. Recreational divers may frequent local dive sites or dive as tourists at more distant venues known for desirable underwater environments. * Scuba finswimming, officially named "Immersion finswimming with breathing apparatus", is underwater competitive swimming using mask, monofin and underwater breathing apparatus conducted in a swimming pool. While there are no requirements on how a breathing apparatus is carried, it cannot be exchanged or abandoned during a race. * Technical diving is recreational scuba diving that exceeds the
agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...
-specified limits of recreational diving for non- professional purposes. Technical diving may expose the diver to hazards beyond those normally associated with recreational diving, and to a greater risk of serious injury or death. The risk may be reduced by appropriate skills, knowledge and experience, and by using suitable equipment and procedures. The skills may be developed through appropriate specialised training and experience. The equipment often involves breathing gases other than air or standard nitrox mixtures, and multiple gas sources. * Underwater citizen science is the scientific research and monitoring for projects for which members of the public collect, categorize, transcribe or analyze scientific data. It is an increasingly popular but underutilised collaboration between society and scientific research, in which members of the recreational scuba diving community actively participate in marine data acquisition and recording, largely by way of geolocated photographic observations collected during recreational dives, but also in more structured and long term experimental work. * Underwater photography is the process of taking
photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...
s while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can also be done while diving on surface supply, or freediving. Underwater photography can be categorised as an art form and a method for recording data. Successful underwater imaging is usually done with specialized equipment and techniques, and it offers unusual and rare photographic opportunities and subjects. * Underwater orienteering is a competitive underwater sport that uses recreational open circuit scuba equipment, fins, a compass and a counter meter to measure the distance covered. The competition consists of a set of individual and team events conducted in both sheltered and open water testing the competitors' speed and accuracy in underwater navigation around accurately surveyed courses marked by buoys. *
Underwater videography Underwater videography is the branch of electronic underwater photography concerned with capturing underwater moving images as a recreational diving, scientific, commercial, documentary, or filmmaking activity. History In 1909, Albert Samama ...
is the branch of electronic underwater photography concerned with capturing underwater moving images as a recreational diving, scientific, commercial, documentary, or filmmaking activity. * Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificial reef sites. The recreation of wreck diving makes no distinction as to how the vessel ended up on the bottom. Some wreck diving involves penetration of the wreckage, making a direct ascent to the surface impossible for a part of the dive.


Freediving activities

Freediving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath-hold, immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure also have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in freediving. Examples of freediving activities are traditional fishing techniques, competitive and non-competitive freediving, competitive and non-competitive spearfishing and freediving photography, synchronised swimming,
underwater football Underwater football is a two-team underwater sport that shares common elements with underwater hockey and underwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in a swimming pool with snorkeling equipment (mask, snorkel, and fins). The ...
,
underwater rugby Underwater rugby (UWR) is an underwater team sport. During a match two teams try to score a negatively buoyant ball (filled with saltwater) into the opponents’ goal at the bottom of a swimming pool. It originated from within the physical f ...
, underwater hockey, underwater target shooting and snorkeling. There are also a range of "competitive
apnea Apnea, BrE: apnoea, is the temporal cessation of breathing. During apnea, there is no movement of the muscles of inhalation, and the volume of the lungs initially remains unchanged. Depending on how blocked the airways are ( patency), there ...
" disciplines; in which competitors attempt to attain great depths, times, or distances on a single breath: *
Aquathlon An aquathlon is a multisport race consisting of continuous run and swim elements. Competitors complete a swim immediately followed by a run over various distances. Athletes compete for fastest overall course completion, including the time trans ...
, also known as underwater wrestling, is an
underwater sport Underwater sports is a group of competitive sports using one or a combination of the following underwater diving techniques - breath-hold, snorkelling or scuba, usually including the use of equipment such as diving masks and fins. These sports ...
, where two competitors wearing masks and fins wrestle underwater in an attempt to remove a ribbon from each other's ankle band to win the bout. The "combat" takes place in a square ring within a swimming pool, and is made up of three 30-second rounds, with a fourth round played in the event of a tie. *
Finswimming Finswimming is an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water's surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins or underwater with monofin either by holding one's breath or ...
is an underwater competitive sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins, either on the water's surface using a snorkel and with either a monofins or bifins, or underwater with a monofin. Three of the disciplines are on breath-hold, and one on scuba. Events take place over distances similar to swimming competitions for both
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
and venues. * Recreational hunting and gathering, including non-competitive spearfishing, usually for food. * Competitive spearfishing is "the hunting and capture of fish underwater without the aid of artificial breathing devices, using gear that depends entirely on the physical strength of the competitor." *
Underwater football Underwater football is a two-team underwater sport that shares common elements with underwater hockey and underwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in a swimming pool with snorkeling equipment (mask, snorkel, and fins). The ...
is a two-team underwater sport is played in a
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
with snorkeling equipment: ( mask, snorkel, and fins). The goal of the game is to manoeuvre (by carrying and passing) a slightly negatively buoyant ball from one side of a pool to the other by players who are completely submerged. * Underwater hockey (also known as Octopush in the United Kingdom) is a globally played limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
into the opposing team's goal by propelling it with a hockey stick (or pusher). A key challenge of the game is that it is played on breath-hold. * Underwater ice hockey is played upside-down underneath the ice on frozen pools or ponds. Participants wear diving masks, fins and wetsuits and use the underside of the frozen surface as the playing area for a buoyant puck. Competitors do not use breathing apparatus, and must surface for air as required. *
Underwater rugby Underwater rugby (UWR) is an underwater team sport. During a match two teams try to score a negatively buoyant ball (filled with saltwater) into the opponents’ goal at the bottom of a swimming pool. It originated from within the physical f ...
is an underwater team sport. During a match two teams try to score a negatively buoyant ball (filled with saltwater) into the opponents’ goal at the bottom of a
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
. It has little in common with rugby football except for the name. * Underwater target shooting is combined underwater sport and shooting sport that tests a competitors’ ability to accurately use a speargun in a set of individual and team events conducted in a
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
using freediving or Apnoea technique.


Training and skills development

The skills of underwater diving include some skills which are only needed in an emergency. These skills should be exercised sufficiently to ensure that if the emergency occurs, the diver is able to deal with it promptly and effectively. Skills practice can be done as part of a dive for other purposes, or in a dive dedicated to maintaining and developing the skills. Divers who do not dive sufficiently often to maintain basic skills may need to do refresher courses or s when returning to active diving. New skills may require dedicated practice to bring them up to a reliable standard.


Familiarisation with equipment

New equipment or a modification to equipment configuration may affect the diver's ability to operate the equipment or respond effectively to a problem. A common example is checking buoyancy control with a new diving suit, buoyancy compensator, cylinder configuration, or weighting system, or an unfamiliar model of rebreather. Buoyancy testing is done with the cylinders nearly empty, to ensure that the diver can maintain neutral buoyancy at the end of a dive during decompression, even if contingency use has depleted the reserve gas supplies. In many cases, testing new equipment does not require a special dive, as any problems will be noticed immediately, and either fixed or the dive can be safely aborted.


Response to an emergency

Both foreseeable and not reasonably foreseeable emergencies can occur during a dive. Dealing with them in some way is necessary, and may involve the diver in self-rescue, the buddy, in assistance to the other buddy, or the safety diver or
stand-by diver Surface-supplied diving is diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas using a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scub ...
in assistance to the diver or divers in difficulty. Response to an emergency happening to someone else may lead to
public safety diving Public safety diving is underwater diving conducted as part of law enforcement and search and rescue. Public safety divers differ from recreational, scientific and commercial divers who can generally plan the date, time, and location of a dive, ...
team involvement. Special circumstances like flooded cave rescues, entrapment in capsized vessels, and rescues from other disasters may involve larger groups.


Emergency recompression

In-water recompression (IWR) is the emergency treatment of decompression sickness (DCS) by returning the diver underwater to help the gas bubbles in the tissues, which are causing the symptoms, to resolve. It is a procedure that exposes the diver to significant risk which should be compared with the risk associated with the other available options. Some authorities recommend that it is only to be used when the time to travel to the nearest
recompression chamber A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of ...
is too long to save the victim's life, others take a more pragmatic approach, and accept that in some circumstances IWR is the best available option. The risks may not be justified for case of mild symptoms likely to resolve spontaneously, or for cases where the diver is likely to be unsafe in the water, but in-water recompression may be justified in cases where severe outcomes are likely, if conducted by a competent and suitably equipped team.


Classification of underwater diving activities by occupational field

This is a table of underwater diving activities classified by occupational field and the diving modes usually associated with them. The mode may be dictated by the regulations or codes of practice governing the field of occupation.


References

{{Underwater diving} Underwater diving