It is funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (Blue Economy 2018 6) and its main objective is to support the development of blue and smart cross-sectoral skills, in order to meet the evolving needs in the labor market of Blue Economy. The project “ScienceDIVER: Cross-sectoral skills for the blue economy market” 5 started in November of 2019 and comprises the joint effort of three Universities (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece - University of Calabria, Italy - University of Stuttgart, Germany), a research Institution (DAN Europe) and three companies representing the advisory maritime industry (Atlantis Consulting, Greece – envirocom, Germany – Marine Cluster Bulgaria). Scientific diving could be a major device in providing an effective framework for the promotion of Ocean Literacy 4 and the enhancement of interaction between science and the public.Īll the above generated the idea of a focused research on this particular field that would provide insight on effective ways for the creation of a unified scientific diving framework. United Nations’ declaration of the decade 2021–2030 as the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 3 is for example a great opportunity for nations to work together in order to generate the global ocean science needed to support the sustainable development of our shared oceans. Yet, since science leads the way in joining multi-backgrounded people for the promotion of knowledge and has in a way already achieved a global understanding on methodology and procedures, one should expect or even better strive towards the creation of a common framework for the scientific diving community as well, so as to promote research and expand international collaboration. That being said, there are of course established frameworks that do work on a regional, national or even continental level that have been developing for decades (among others ). Differences in philosophy that span from minor dissimilarities in definitions, to completely unlike and sometimes controversial approaches on features like health and safety, remuneration and professional acknowledgment. The relevant landscape is chaotic not in the sense that it is totally absurdum of course, rather than in the mathematical sense of the term meaning that it has many variables that sometimes interact and other times remain idle, creating an unstable model for the harmonization of procedures and accreditation. The reason is probably the existence of multifarious ways in which different parts of the world or different established frameworks approach scientific diving as a part of their activity. However, a career path to scientific diving (SD) is not clearly evident to those who seek to follow it, either students or scientists who want to forward their research underwater. Established terms such as Blue Growth and Blue Economy 1 or even recently emerged ones such as Blue Science 2 reflect the dynamic environment that the combination of several scientific fields can create working with the relevant public or private institutions, in order to promote social and financial development. Thus, it has become part of a growing business sector that combines the scientific world with the maritime industry. Moreover, diving for scientific purposes is also considered nowadays a substantial part of professional development for scientists that want to expand their horizon or excel through the development of specialized skills and expertise. New data along with new methodologies spring out of the challenging underwater environment enhancing scientific processes and results. Going through this long list of underwater endeavors it becomes evident that dive-based research is considered a valuable tool in scientific progress. Whether it is the amazing mechanism and the impressive cluster of bronze sculpture from the Antikythera Shipwreck or the valuable measurements on biodiversity and how climate change affects the ecosystem (among others ), the data that derive from underwater projects enrich our perception of the world daily and significantly. For more than a century now the underwater world has yielded priceless information on a variety of scientific disciplines.
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