freediving fatality help

Scubajenn,

Here in Northern California there are deaths of recreational freedivers going after abalone. The number of registered abalone divers in California last year is 30,000+.

I once talked to a California Dept. of Fish and Games officer and he told me the AVERAGE number death of abalone divers is about 2 per year. These are usually associated with freedivers unfamiliar with the local conditions, poor equipment, lack of buddy/safety skills, pressure to 'get abs' that weekend they are on the coast, etc. Note the number I just mentioned is anecdotal. I'm sure more solid statistics can be found at the DFG website.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/

Peter S.

Hunting for abalone while holding your breath, in my view, isn't recreational freediving. I would create a broad classification called 'breath-hold underwater hunting', which includes any activity designed to hunt for marine life, whether crabs/lobsters, abalone, or fish. They are all much more dangerous, in my view, than diving for pure pleasure without any hunting.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

Where would you place freedivers/snorklers run over by recreational boats? There are quite a few deaths from this.

Adrian

A friend of mine died last year inn Norway. He was just going to make a couple of dives more after his friends swam a shore. SWB and drowning. Depth...26m. Training ! 33 years old !
Sad funeral

I checked a couple of back issues of Hawaii Skin Diver magazine (hawaiiskindiver.net), and here are a couple that I found:
Summer 2003-Charlie Chiswick (details not printed)
Spring 2004-Shinto "Steve" Seo (disappeared while spearfishing in Mexico-body not recovered)
Jason Matsuo (SWB-details not printed)

There is also a statstical review of drownings in Hawaii 1993-1997 at:
www.aloha.com/~lifeguards/drownings93_97.html
There are several deaths listed there as being attributed to freediving.

Added 7/24: A 40 yo Male participating in the "national freediving championships" in Halewia, Hawaii drowned today. He missed a check in, a search was initiated, and his body was found offshore in 90 feet of water. (This was from the local TV news tonite.)