Photo: Tewy

A scientific course for all levels of divers, what a good idea!  Rendezvous Dive Adventures staff and staff from The Seattle Aquarium have teamed up to offer this training.   Shawn Larson (Curator of Research) and Jeff Christiansen (Dive Safety Officer) will be on site to teach you the survey and diving techniques. The main focus is rock fish surveys, but the principles and methods can be used for many other survey subjects.

The course part of the survey techniques will be presented by Shawn. She has participated in many projects dealing with otters, six gill sharks, rock fish etc. and has extensive genetic knowledge and field study skills.  Jeff will do the diving techniques as he has a wealth of experience in both science diving and other dive related activities. Jeff was also heavily involved in the six gill shark tagging project.

During this course, you will learn:

• about the different rock fish species, both to identify them and their life history,
• how to set up transects,
• how to handle data and much more.

This is great preparation for those wanting to become a fully-fledged scientific diver or for those who want to participate in local survey projects.