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The Sea of Tomorrow Society of Beneath the Sea is offering a number of scholarships and grants for 2024. You can apply online at www.beneaththesea.us/scholarships. The scholarships and grants will be awarded at the Beneath the Sea Show in March 2024.
The Q4 2023 edition of Alert Diver from Divers Alert Network is out. Once again it is packed with information including an article of diving in Connecticut plus travel options to St. Eustatius.
The DAN Annual Reports for 2021 and 2022 are due to be released in 2 – 4 months.
Sea turtle nests in the US are breaking records but climate change is still a major threat. Florida, North Caroline, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia all reported increases but high tides, floods, sea level rise, hurricanes and hotter sand and water are taking a toll.
PBS Nature recently premiered a new series “Spy in the Ocean”. The four episodes incorporate underwater video shot by marine-life shaped animatronics puppets.
Dr. Alex Brylske has a new online course – The Sustainable Dive Leader in cooperation with the Ocean First Institute.
Commentary
Do Black Friday and Small Business Saturday matter to small local dive shops. While many people like to go out shopping on these two days, many are content to stay home and make their purchase online. Small dive shops also face direct competition from their suppliers who offer deals at deep discounts. These deep discounts make it very challenging for your local dive shop to compete. The latest research by the Cline Group shows that there are only 851 true brick and mortar dive shops in the US. What will that number be like a year from now or maybe three years from now. I suspect it will continue to shrink.
The DIVE BOAT act stands for Don’t Imperil Vessel Employees, Business Owners and Tourism. This act is in response to the Small Passenger Vessel Act (SPVA) that was passed last year as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. The SPVA specifically targeted dive boats both day boats and liveaboards as a result of the Conception disaster. The cruise ship industry is excluded as is the entire fishing industry. This new law removes the limits of liability from dive boats as well as allows claims to be made for up to two years. The result are astronomical increases in insurance rates. The DIVE BOAT act is a bill that tries to change the SPVA. It looks to lower the exposure limits on liveaboards to one year and for day dive boats revert back to prior limits.
Support the DIVE BOAT act by reaching out to your federal representatives.