Scuba Divers

[Piss'n'Broke]

Hey all

Just wondering, what the rules are for scuba divers... I cant seem to log into maritime to check,,,, bloody dial up

I thought divers had to have several things when out diving

1. A bouy out indicating divers are "down"

2. Mother ship has flags mounted as well.

I thought the exclusions zone extended to 100MS from the mothership. Which is fair enough. But what happens when the mother ship is further than 300ms away from the divers? whats the rules or equitette,,,,, I witnessed a diver boat over 300metres away from their divers a few weeks back. And wasnt sure on the regs!

Any light shed on this topic would be greatly appreciated?

Dan

[GregL]

Here you go

This is cut and paste off the maritime site.

Diving Activities

The diver’s flag must be shown when people are engaged in diving activities from a vessel. It must be no less than 750 mm x 600 mm in size and flown in a vertical position above the superstructure. It is recommended that this flag be shown when diving/snorkelling from shore. As divers may not always be in close proximity, it is important that as soon as you see a dive flag you slow down, keep well clear and keep a good lookout. If you are within speaking distance of the dive master get their instructions as to a safe direction to travel to avoid any possible encounters. If there is no dive master about then it’s your responsibility to keep a good lookout, at all times, for any divers above and below the surface and then determine a safe distance.

If you see a snorkeller in the water, remember to remain a distance of at least 30 metres from them in the water (60 metres if you are towing a water skier or aquaplaner).

When you see a divers flag slow down, keep well clear and keep a lookout.

[Piss'n'Broke]

Cheers for that!!!!

Dan

[achjimmy]

Here you go

This is cut and paste off the maritime site.

Diving Activities

The diver’s flag must be shown when people are engaged in diving activities from a vessel. It must be no less than 750 mm x 600 mm in size and flown in a vertical position above the superstructure. It is recommended that this flag be shown when diving/snorkelling from shore. As divers may not always be in close proximity, it is important that as soon as you see a dive flag you slow down, keep well clear and keep a good lookout. If you are within speaking distance of the dive master get their instructions as to a safe direction to travel to avoid any possible encounters. If there is no dive master about then it’s your responsibility to keep a good lookout, at all times, for any divers above and below the surface and then determine a safe distance.

If you see a snorkeller in the water, remember to remain a distance of at least 30 metres from them in the water (60 metres if you are towing a water skier or aquaplaner).

When you see a divers flag slow down, keep well clear and keep a lookout.

I never thought to run a flag when snorkling of the back of the boat! I will have to pick one up, and run it of the aerial i suppose.

Thx

[rodidas]

I have had nothing but Very bad experience when it comes to divers. Twice when fishing at north head, sydney, divers have cut my anchor rope . The dive boat was at least 400m away and the divers were not using the flags to indicate where they were. On both occasions they swam under my boat (indicative by the stream of bubbles rising to the surface) and then my anchor rope went slack . I then proceeded to aproach the dive boat and verbally blast the holy hell out of the skipper of the dive boat, with laughter the only responce i get. Unfortunately, because i was soo cheesed at the time, i forgot on both occasions to take down the boat details so i could report them. Anybody else had issues like this?

Edited January 16, 2008 by rodidas

[daleyboy]

I have had nothing but Very bad experience when it comes to divers. Twice when fishing at north head, sydney, divers have cut my anchor rope . The dive boat was at least 400m away and the divers were not using the flags to indicate where they were. On both occasions they swam under my boat (indicative by the stream of bubbles rising to the surface) and then my anchor rope went slack . I then proceeded to aproach the dive boat and verbally blast the holy hell out of the skipper of the dive boat, with laughter the only responce i get. Unfortunately, because i was soo cheesed at the time, i forgot on both occasions to take down the boat details so i could report them. Anybody else had issues like this?

I was anchored at north head once and had a dive boat come and set up within 10M of me .... no other boats in the area but still couldnt give me room ... so much for 30M.

But you shoulda seen the looks on their faces after my anchor got stuck (when i tried to pull up stumps) so i had to revert to driving round in circles trying to force it loose ... they didnt seem too happy then??? ... but neither was i coz i didnt get it back grrrr

Edited January 16, 2008 by daleyboy

[huntman]

I was anchored at north head once and had a dive boat come and set up within 10M of me .... no other boats in the area but still couldnt give me room ... so much for 30M.

But you shoulda seen the looks on their faces after my anchor got stuck (when i tried to pull up stumps) so i had to revert to driving round in circles trying to force it loose ... they didnt seem too happy then??? ... but neither was i coz i didnt get it back grrrr

Should have asked them to pry it loose for you while they were down there. Divers as a general rule don't like fishermen because they eat the things they go down to see basically. There are quite a few exceptions to that though, and soem very reasonable divers who are fishermen too, but definately the dive charter operators don't like us too much.

[slinkymalinky]

Not sure about the rules for the divers themselves but for fisho's when divers are about....

- Upgrade to at least 24kg tackle.... they're easy to bust off on the hook-up and it's hard to move them with anything lighter.

- Don't try to play them under the boat. They just hang side on to the boat and it's hard to lift them. It's much better to drive away from them and their flippers normally make them plane up higher in the water column where you can get a better angle on them.

- Using a downrigger can pay off... you'll find that sometimes they're higher in the water than you think but with a sturdy downrigger, they often slide down the wire and hook up by themselves.

- Bait freshness or lure colour is less important than hook size. A forged 10/0 is a good start but I've had my best success with 14/0 Gamakatsu circles. They seem less able to unkook themselves from circle patterns than J hooks.

- Don't strike at the first sign of a take... wait until the rod loads up then give 3 or 4 short sharp jabs with the rod tip just to really bury the hook and wake them up.

- They're often found in pairs so try to get the hooked one away from its partner as fast as possible as they will often try to cut the hooked diver free.

- Don't gaff them through the tank.... BAD idea. Lip grippers are a better option and it tends to keep them quieter at the side of the boat.

- Try to release any you catch unharmed.... they don't taste too good and the neoprene tends to get stuck in your teeth.

- Before release it's worth checking their catch bag to see if there is anything inside worth keeping (crays, abalone, etc)

Cheers, Slinky

[Piss'n'Broke]

I knew this post would degenerate into this! Thanks for all the help

Dan

[nargse1]

Not sure about the rules for the divers themselves but for fisho's when divers are about....

- Upgrade to at least 24kg tackle.... they're easy to bust off on the hook-up and it's hard to move them with anything lighter.

- Don't try to play them under the boat. They just hang side on to the boat and it's hard to lift them. It's much better to drive away from them and their flippers normally make them plane up higher in the water column where you can get a better angle on them.

- Using a downrigger can pay off... you'll find that sometimes they're higher in the water than you think but with a sturdy downrigger, they often slide down the wire and hook up by themselves.

- Bait freshness or lure colour is less important than hook size. A forged 10/0 is a good start but I've had my best success with 14/0 Gamakatsu circles. They seem less able to unkook themselves from circle patterns than J hooks.

- Don't strike at the first sign of a take... wait until the rod loads up then give 3 or 4 short sharp jabs with the rod tip just to really bury the hook and wake them up.

- They're often found in pairs so try to get the hooked one away from its partner as fast as possible as they will often try to cut the hooked diver free.

- Don't gaff them through the tank.... BAD idea. Lip grippers are a better option and it tends to keep them quieter at the side of the boat.

- Try to release any you catch unharmed.... they don't taste too good and the neoprene tends to get stuck in your teeth.

- Before release it's worth checking their catch bag to see if there is anything inside worth keeping (crays, abalone, etc)

Cheers, Slinky

im a diver though too.

[yakfishing]

Divers as a general rule don't like fishermen because they eat the things they go down to see basically.

Im a proud diver and fisherman and a lot of the time it can be the other way round as some fisherman think we are scaring all the fish away and they hate us for it, theyll throw rocks at you and everything. Nothing could be further from the truth though I went for a snorkel the other day and had decent bream and very decent blackfish swimming 1m underneath me totaly unfazed. But obviously there are dickhead divers too, why they would cut someones anchor rope is beyond me.

Funny post Slinkymalinky A little advise - use weedy sea dragons as livebait theyre a magnet for divers!

Edited January 16, 2008 by yakfishing

[slinkymalinky]

Hey Yakfishing... if you like Weedy Sea Dragons, I used to live in and dive a lot in Tassie and they're relatively common. On the south east coast there's a spot called "Tesselated Pavements" (spelling's probably off). That spot is the best cold water dive I ever did... 20m tall kelp beds to fly thru and as well as the WSD's there's every kind of fish, ray, crab, etc you could hope for. I did one of my original qualification dives there and the instructor had us all bring catch bags! lol. Most divers I know tent to head North for dive holidays but going south is a great option too.

Cheers, Slinky

[Aero]

If divers decide to move in on an area im fishing, Do I have to give way ?

I've often had this happen in the bay, they come in from the shore and dont display a flag, so i just ignore they are there.

Chris

[Robbielites]

If you look closely you can see Ceph's rod in that second pic

Sorry mate, couldn't resist

Robbie.

[Mondo Rock]

Gold Robbie.

[gretsch]

Yes.. I saw it too!!

You are a funny bastard Robbie!!

I might get Ant to dive Spot X for me!!

[yakfishing]

Hey Yakfishing... if you like Weedy Sea Dragons, I used to live in and dive a lot in Tassie and they're relatively common. On the south east coast there's a spot called "Tesselated Pavements" (spelling's probably off). That spot is the best cold water dive I ever did... 20m tall kelp beds to fly thru and as well as the WSD's there's every kind of fish, ray, crab, etc you could hope for. I did one of my original qualification dives there and the instructor had us all bring catch bags! lol. Most divers I know tent to head North for dive holidays but going south is a great option too.

Cheers, Slinky

Gday Slinky, Whats the water temp and viz like down there on average? Im probably more likely to head north too tho, but Ill keep that in mind it sounds good.

Also some pics of Cuttlefish (agressive little bastards!), Groper and Seargeant Baker....

Great pics mate. I love the cuttles they are quite intelligent you can see it in their eyes. Ive never had one act aggressive tho, more so just curious of me.