Hi everybody,

My first shot in the battle against new scuba diving regulations in Israel 
and against the initiator has been fired.  The following mail was sent to 
PADI headquarters in the U.K. as they are in charge of our region.  I 
wonder what will be their reaction.  This mail was written on behalf of 
many Israeli divers who wish to deter any other diving professional from 
ever initiating anything like that.  The mail to the Israeli Diving 
Authority will follow in a few days and the mails of those of you who 
helped with information will be attached to it.

I'll keep you posted.

October 6, 2002

To: PADI International
From: Kuty Weiss

Dear Sir,

I just found out that one of PADI course directors who also serves as a 
member of the professional committee of the Israeli Sport Diving Authority 
wrote a LAW proposal.  I was shocked to read the proposal and I wanted to 
ask you whether it reflects the official PADI policy.  The letter was 
written in Hebrew and I translated it to English for your convenience.  If 
there is a Hebrew reading official in PADI headquarters I would be more 
than happy to send to you the Hebrew original.  Anyway I can assure you 
that the translation is as close to the original as possible.

Before letting you read the letter I want to mention a few facts for the 
record.  Unlike most of the countries in the world, sport diving in Israel 
is regulated by LAW.  The body which was assigned to monitor this law is 
the Israeli Sport Diving Authority.  This authority formed a professional 
committee, which consults the authority in professional issues.  The 
majority of the members of the committee are the representatives of the 
national and international diving organizations.  This letter was sent by 
one of the two (I think) PADI representatives in that committee, Mr. Eyal 
Sayag, who signs his letter as PADI course director number 909117.  The 
letter is a proposal to change the Israeli diving law.

The letter:

**************************************************************

To: Mr. Ran Levin
         CEO The Israeli Sport Diving Authority

From: Sayag Eyal
         PADI Course Director, Member of the Professional Committee

Subject: A law proposal to rearrange sport diving regulations in Israel

Ran Shalom,


In our last meeting, with all the members of the Professional Committee on 
May 30 2002 I raised a very important issue concerning scuba gear rental 
and scuba diving services for the certified divers in Israel.  I mentioned 
the fact that Israel is one of the very few countries in the world that 
every newly certified diver can rent equipment or get his tanks filled the 
day after his certification and dive alone or with a buddy wherever he 
wishes.  This negligence must be corrected immediately as we must try to 
measure up to the international scuba diving community, which authorizes 
recreational diving only through clubs that operate in the area, in guided 
dives.  For that matter it does not matter what is the certification level 
of the diver unless they are diving instructors on duty, or commercial 
divers in countries like: U.S.A., Australia, Mexico, The Caribbean Islands, 
Thailand, The Maldives, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.  Any other diver is 
forbidden to dive on his own and he must dive within a guided program 
offered by the local club to prevent a number of things.

1.      Fatal accidents and deaths of divers who operate independently.
I wish to remind you that every two months when the Committee is assembled 
there are one or two deaths, which we discuss, that happen in Israel, 
especially in Eilat.  The last one was <name deleted for privacy> and <name 
deleted for privacy>, and in the next one I am sure that we shall discuss 
the latest deaths in Eilat of <names deleted for privacy>.  These two 
rented scuba gear in a scuba diving club in Eilat, and went diving to 30 
meters to find the YATUSH wreck.  Their deaths could have been prevented if 
they had taken a guided dive with the club.

2.      Abiding to the basic regulations of diving and equipment checking 
before the dive by a professional guide  a divemaster or an 
instructor.  This is to prevent light and medium accidents (see the two 
latest accidents in Eilat on the same Saturday in which the two divers 
died, of severe decompression cases).

3.      Guarding diving sites and preventing damage to important nature 
resources which disappear and partially destroyed by those independent 
divers, sometimes on purpose when they harass living creatures or take home 
souvenirs.

4.      Developing sport diving in Israel as a regulated, responsible and 
safe sport for divers from all ages.  Just for your knowledge, the image of 
the sport in the population is that diving is dangerous and a diver can end 
up dead, which frightens a lot of people and prevents them from even trying 
it.  Especially in light of the latest cases.

5.      Encouraging the Israeli diving population to take enrichment 
courses in subjects like: navigating, deep diving, wreck diving, night 
diving, Nitrox, perfect buoyancy, first aid, rescue, master diver and 
assistant instructor even by those who do not wish to work in the 
industry.  These courses will surely improve his status as a diver.  I wish 
to remind you that 80% of the diving population in Israel holds 2 stars and 
less.  This is different from the tourists who come to Eilat and have wide 
range of certification levels perfectly organized in the logbooks and their 
willingness to take advanced courses in different levels.

I wish to make it clear that this proposal will not harm the Israeli 
diver.  It will enhance his personal safety and the safety of the marine 
environment.

The motive for my proposal is professional only and has no financial aspect 
whatsoever.

My personal opinion is that the Israeli diver in the State of Israel must 
be coerced to dive only in guided dives unless he is conducting 
professional work like teaching and instructing, working for an underwater 
commercial firm, military, police, licensed fishing, archeological 
research, biological research etc. or when the diver’s and his buddy’s 
certification is DM or above.

Sayag Eyal

<Signature:>
Eyal Sayag
PADI Course Director
No. 909117
Tel. <deleted  for privacy>


Copies:
Israeli Sport Diving Authority Inspectors
Representative of PADI Israel
Representative of SSI Israel
Representative of ACUC Israel
Representatives of NAUI Israel
Representative of TDI and NAUI Israel
Representatives of The Israeli Diving Federation
Representative of IANTD Israel
Dr. Halperin (ISDA doctor)  ”

**************************************************************

The letter was scanned and published by an unknown source on the Israeli 
TAPUZ Diving Forum.  This is an Internet Hebrew forum for divers, which has 
many participants and is read by some of the diving professionals and 
organization leaders in Israel (we get some replies from them on the forum 
from time to time so this is a safe assumption).  After it was published 
its authenticity was confirmed by one of the Israeli Sport Diving Authority 
officials.  I think that you can imagine the aggravation this letter 
provoked among the diving community in Israel.

I have a few questions:

1.      Is it PADI’s official policy that PADI’s certification program (as 
well as other agency’s programs) is so inadequate that certified divers are 
not properly trained to dive unattended by a DM or an instructor, in a non 
guided dive?

2.      Is it PADI’s official policy that PADI’s certification program (as 
well as other agency’s programs) is so inadequate that certified divers are 
not sufficiently trained to perform satisfactory pre-dive equipment checks?

3.      Does PADI have a nature awareness and preservation content in its 
basic courses?

4.      If so, is it PADI’s official policy that PADI’s certification 
program (as well as other agency’s programs) is so inadequate that 
certified divers should be accompanied at all times by a DM or an 
instructor as the only way to prevent damages to the marine life?

5.      If these are not PADI’s official policies is PADI aware of the fact 
that one of your senior staff member thinks that your certification 
programs are so insufficient that certified divers should not dive on their 
own?

6.      What is PADI’s stand regarding a senior staff member who tried to 
influence legislation with uncorroborated wrong facts (assuming that he was 
not blatantly and knowingly lying)?  Mr. Sayag wrote in his first 
paragraph: “… I mentioned the fact that Israel is one of the very few 
countries in the world that every newly certified diver can rent equipment 
or get his tanks filled the day after his certification and dive alone or 
with a buddy wherever he wishes.”  Now, I personally dived in some of the 
places he mentioned and never found there a place where they had such 
regulations.  Nevertheless in order to corroborate my facts I requested 
information in an international forum.  I have the replies and I can send 
them to you if you are not sure about my statement (wrong facts by Mr. Sayag).

A copy of this letter was sent to the TAPUZ Israeli Diving Forum and to two 
international diving forums: rec.scuba and the SCUBA-SE mailing list.  I am 
sure that the hundreds (and maybe more) of participants and readers in 
these forums will be glad to read your reply.

Kuty
worried scuba diver
Jerusalem,  Israel
E-mail: [log in to unmask]


Regards,
                    Kuty