The Isle of Man Dive Conference, held on Saturday 20th March at the Manx Museum, saw a huge variety of topics up for discussion.
The day began with Edmund Southworth, Director of Manx National Heritage (MNH), welcoming the delegates to the Museum.
The morning session was dominated by wrecks, with Captain Michael Brew, Director of Harbours and Receiver of Wreck discussing his role and powers for dealing with items recovered from the sea.
Captain Brew told the story of UK based divers who recovered artefacts from the Romeo, a WWII casualty which lies just off Peel, and how he had acted to prevent the items being removed from the Island so that they could be assessed by MNH experts.
The next speaker, Allison Fox was one of those experts, and she explained how MNH had worked to conserve the items and prevent their deterioration once they had been brought up from the wreck site.
MNH advised the Receiver which artefacts were of significant historical importance, and these are currently on display at the House of Manannan in Peel, some having been donated by the divers and others on loan.
The possible expansion of the definition of underwater sites as Ancient Monuments was discussed and a unanimous vote from the audience supported increased protection for wreck sites.
Adrian Corkill, wreck diver and author of Shipwrecks of the Isle of Man, showed some stunning images of side scan sonar surveys that he has been conducting to look for new wreck sites.
The audience was then entertained by Professor Trevor Norton’s wry look at dive history and marine research.
The afternoon session saw a switch of focus to marine conservation. Dr Fiona Gell (Wildlife and Conservation Officer - Marine) thanked divers for their input into the Marine Nature Reserves project so far and provided an update on progress and the timetable for the future.
Possible locations for the Nature Reserve are due to be publicized later this year and divers and snorkellers were urged to comment on the proposals.
Laura Hanley (Assistant Wildlife and Conservation Officer - Marine) shared her love of turtles and surprised many of the audience with the news that turtles, especially Leatherbacks, visit Manx waters.
Divers were urged to look out for turtles who come to feed on jellyfish, which led to many planning to keep a closer eye out this year.
The Director of Fisheries, Andy Read, discussed developments in the scallop fishery and the possibility of more environmentally friendly ways of harvesting scallops. Divers are in a unique position to observe firsthand the damage that scallop dredging causes to the sea bed marine life.
Dr Read also updated the audience on the planned Cable Reef trial for Port Erin. The afternoon’s keynote presentation was made by Sean O’Connell, who spoke with passion about his time as a member of the Garda diving team.
His involvement in many dangerous and difficult rescues and searches enthralled the audience, and more than one delegate suggest that they wanted to train towards a similar career! The afternoon concluded with a raffle in aid of the Hyperbaric Chamber.
Prizes were provided by Discover Diving’s suppliers Apeks, Typhoon, Miflex, Fourth Element and APDiving and ?180 was raised to support the work of the facility.
Michelle Haywood thanked everyone for their support: "I hope that good weather lasts all summer and today’s conference has inspired you to get back in the water. I’m going to jump in every congregation of jellyfish that I see and look out for those turtles!"
Pictured: A slide featuring a group from the Garda dive team. Photograph by Steve Cowley of Discover Diving.
