Compressor diving

For other methods of surface-supplied diving, see surface-supplied diving.

Compressor diving is a method of surface-supplied diving used in some tropical sea areas including the Philippines and the Caribbean. The divers swim with an eyes-and-nose diving mask and (often home-made) fins and are supplied air by plastic hoses from an air compressor of the type commonly used to supply jackhammers. There is no reduction valve; the diver holds the hose end in his mouth with no mouthpiece or breathing mask. The compressor is on a boat.

If several people are compressor diving from the same boat, several linesmen are needed in the boat to stop the airlines from getting tangled and kinked and so blocked.

Compressor diving is the most common method used to fish for Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) in the Caribbean ^[1]. However, it is illegal because it contributes to overfishing, is environmentally destructive, and is harmful to the health of the fishers.^[2]. When fishing with compressors, fishers either use gaffs or harpoons to spear lobsters immediately upon sight, killing or injuring the lobsters before they can be checked for eggs or assessed as legally-sized. Compressors allow fishers to fish in deeper waters for longer periods of time, facilitating reef damage as fishers search for lobsters hidden underneath corals and other living refuges. The misuse of compressors has also resulted in health problems for many fishers, such as respiratory problems, limb paralysis, and death due to decompression illness ^[3].

Compressor diving was shown, and so called, used for pa-aling fishing, in episode 1 (Oceans: Into the Blue) of the BBC television series Human Planet. The cameramen used ordinary scuba gear, but one of them had a trial-dive with the crew's compressor-diving gear.

Pa-aling fishing

This method of diving is commonly used in Philippines waters for pa-aling fishing, which is fishing with big nets on coral reef areas where a surface-dragged net would snag on coral; the compressor air hoses are also used to make a curtain of bubbles to corral and herd the fish into the nets, since muro-ami fishing was stopped in the area. At least one pa-aling fishing fleet has been found and arrested in a protected fishery area.

References

• Photographs of Pa aling compressor diving in the Philippines
• BBC documentary features ‘dangerous’ fishing method in the Philippines
• An item in BBC TV 1 television program Human Planet part 1 Oceans, shown 8pm to 9pm Thursday 13 January 2011
• http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/philippines/news/?17173/Pa-aling-fishing-stopped-in-the-Philippines
• http://www.yorkshire-divers.com/forums/surface-interval/143180-pa-aling-divers-mentalists.html (with link to video)
• http://www.earthdive.com/site/news/newsdetail.asp?id=3623
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00d53z5 (with link to video)

1. ^ Herrera-Moreno, A. and Betancourt, L. 2003a. Datos de la Pesca de la Langosta Panulirus argus en la Republica Dominicana. In Buho, (Ed.), Investigaciones ecologico pesqueras de la langosta Panulirus argus en la Plataforma Dominicana (pp. 24-44). Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana: Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Cadiz.
2. ^ Herrera, Moreno, A., and Betancourt, L. 2003b. Pautas para el Ordenamiento de la Pesca de la Langosta Panulirus argus en la Republica Dominicana. In Buho (Ed.), Investigaciones Ecologico Pesqueras de la Langosta Panulirus argus en la Plataforma Dominicana (pp. 94-117). Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana: Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Cadiz.
3. ^ WWF. 2006. Como Lograr Mayores Ingresos Pescando de Manera Sustentable: Manual Practicas Pesqueras de Langosta en el Arrecife Mesoamericano. WWF-Mexico/Centroamerica: 97 pp.

The main article for this category is Underwater diving.

This category covers diving as in underwater diving. See Category:Diving (acrobatics) for entering the water from a height.

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