The REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project is the world’s largest database of marine-life sightings, containing more than 250,000 surveys, thanks to divers and snorkelers from all over the world. Scientists, policymakers and resource managers use REEF data for research and to make informed decisions, and divers can consult the database to learn what species have been reported at a given location. By engaging in this ocean citizen science initiative, each dive can be a fascinating and rewarding underwater scavenger hunt.
Understanding migration routes of blue whales may lead to more protection of blue whales in those locations.
DAN has been tracking scuba-related incidents since the late 1980s, and the dive community is critical to our success in collecting information about fatal and nonfatal injuries. Our dive safety and medical experts have produced essential recommendations as a result of their in-depth analyses of incident data. What is critical for better data is for divers and others to report incidents to DAN. By collecting more data, DAN can continue toward the goal of making every dive accident- and injury-free.
At Divers Alert Network, our commitment to making diving safer runs deep. The members of DAN’s board of directors have spent their careers managing risk, exploring the underwater world and supporting those who dive. These are our directors and the reasons they dedicate their time to DAN.
At age 20, Mehgan Heaney-Grier made freediving history, touching off a storm of media attention and putting freediving on the map in the U.S. She later pursued underwater projects both as a freediver and scuba diver. Her newfound fame, aquatic talents and photogenic appearance led to several television and movie projects. She is now focusing on projects such as conservation, connecting people with the sea, and the empowerment of women. She is a frequent keynote speaker, collaborates with a variety of nonprofit organizations and has begun leading water-based expeditions.
Have you ever seen an anchored sailboat with wetsuits and regulators hanging from the rigging and wondered what it was like for those divers? While there are benefits of living aboard and diving from your own boat, there are challenges as well. Every adventure has risks. But we can wake up in our own bed, don our gear at sunrise and slip into the sea to spend an hour alone underwater with mantas, sharks and dolphins, and it’s worth it.
Knowing that other researchers and students could benefit from learning the freediving skills they were applying to underwater research, Claire and Ricardo Paris collaborated with others to draft a course that would raise awareness of the risks, promote safety, teach the required skills and establish guidelines for freediving in science. The University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science approved the first scientific freediving course to establish safety protocols, plan underwater fieldwork and prepare students for other scientific freediving specialties.
The authors use commercially available photo equipment to image near-infrared fluorescence from chlorophyll in corals and hope divers can help them further develop and improve their methodology to possibly identify the onset of bleaching events. They want to improve this methodology so autonomous underwater vehicles can use it for remote imaging on large sections of the reef, similar to satellite imaging for terrestrial near-infrared chlorophyll fluorescence. Besides the unique photos divers can get from this imaging, the equipment can also help with other research.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the extent of oil’s toxic exposures on fish, a team from the Center for Integrated Modeling and Analysis of Gulf Ecosystems circumnavigated the Gulf of Mexico to collect thousands of fish for analysis. They sampled a wide variety of fish and categorized them as pelagic species, coastal species and offshore benthic species. They unexpectedly discovered that the highest exposures are in yellowfin tuna, a pelagic species, suggesting that oil pollution is chronic and widespread in the Gulf of Mexico.
Austin Gallagher is deeply involved in working at the national and international levels to link shark research to policy and advocacy efforts, doing most of his work through Beneath the Waves, the conservation organization he founded. Beneath the Waves is embarking on a multiyear research campaign in the Caribbean, where Gallagher and his team are working with numerous governments to bolster shark conservation efforts through marine protected areas using noninvasive monitoring techniques such as deep-sea drop cameras and environmental DNA.
