NATIVE FISHERMEN DIVERS INJURY DATABASE RESEARCH
(apologies in advance for any cross postings)
Dear Marine Scientists and Tropical Researchers:
Researchers at UC Berkeley have been working for over two years on
tracking incidents of diving-related injuries among local divers
throughout the world. Berkeley's OCEAN (Ocean Conservation and
Environmental Action Network) Initiative group and SOS (Sub-Ocean
Safety) are compiling a database of injuries incurred among local diving
populations around the globe, with an emphasis on indigenous peoples
suffering injury due to economic or social pressures and little or no
training in the safe use of modern diving equipement.
No such data has been compiled to date, and no other known mechanism is
in place for the purpose of this collection. DAN, the Divers Alert
Network, has stated their willingness to augment the project, if able,
through their new IDAN program, but as of yet DAN only maintains records
of injuries incurred by divers from the United States.
This new database is particularly concerned with cases of diving injury
incurred by native divers in the Third World. Many of you may be
familiar with these kinds of problems, such as those reported by the
media for such places as Mosquitia or the Philippines. If you have any
information relevant to diving injuries among local fishermen, dive
guides, or other working divers, we need your help....
If, during the course of your international travels, you have ever
witnessed or heard reliable accounts of diving injuries in the areas you
visited, please visit our report page on the world wide web to fill out
a questionaire. Every bit of information you can provide helps to
augment diver safety around the globe. The information gathered will be
used to plan diver education courses and to strategically place donated
hyperbaric chambers.
Visit the injury questionaire at
http://www.inland.net/wet/sci_diving/Injury_report_form.html
All reports are completely confidential and protected by the privacy act
of 1974. You do not have to put your name on the form if you do not
want to.
Please tell other divers, international travelers, and aquatic
scientists whom you know about the need to report known diving injuries
to the database to make it as complete as possible.
If you would like to read more about this project, visit
http://www.inland.net/wet/sci_diving/native_DCS_injuries.html
Thank you very much for your help! Feel free to contact me at the #s
below if you have any questions that are not answered by the webpage or
need to discuss an incident but are unable to access the internet to
make a report.
On behalf of UC Berkeley's OCEAN Initiatives and Sub-Ocean Safety,
Joe Dougherty
ecotrip at hooked.net
510/531-5993 tel
510/530-7119 fax
