THE EUROPEAN SCIENTIFIC DIVER (ESD) | to AESD standards|to the Advanced European Scientific Diver minimum competency
A European Scientific Diver is a diver capable of acting as a member of a scientific diving team. He/she may attain this level by either a course or by in-field training and experience under suitable supervision or by a combination of these two methods.

The ESD must:

  • Show proof of basic theoretical knowledge and a basic understanding of:
    • Diving physics and physiology, the causes and effects of diving related illnesses and disorders and their management.
    • The specific problems associated with diving to and beyond 20m, calculations of air requirements, correct use of decompression tables.
    • Equipment, including personal dive computers and guidelines as to their safe use.
    • Emergency procedures and diving casualty management.
    • Principles of dive planning.
    • Legal aspects and responsibilities relevant to scientific diving in Europe and elsewhere.
  • Be fully competent with/in:
    • Diving first aid, including cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and oxygen administration to diving casualties.
    • SCUBA rescue techniques and management of casualties.
    • The use and user maintenance of appropriate SCUBA diving equipment.
  • Be fully competent with:
    • Search methods.
    • Survey methods, both surface and sub-surface, capable of accurately locating and marking objects and sites.
    • The basic use of airbags and airlifts for controlled lifts, excavations and sampling.
    • Basic rigging and rope work, including the construction and deployment of transacts and search grids.
    • Underwater navigation methods using suitable techniques.
    • Recording techniques.
    • Acting as surface tender for a roped diver.
    • Sampling techniques appropriate to the scientific discipline being pursued.
  • Show proof of having undertaken 70 open water dives, to include a minimum of:
    • 20 dives with a scientific task of work supervised by a recognized research institution, such as listed above.
    • 15 dives deeper than 15m of which of 5 dives deeper than 25m
    • 12 dives in the last 12 months, including at least 6 with a scientific task of work.

All evidence must be recorded in nationally acceptable logs, countersigned by suitably qualified persons. None of the above precludes the possible requirement for a practical or theoretical demonstration of any or all of the points shown.

AESD standards