Training

Training consists of basic and advanced courses as well as mentoring/apprenticing the new trainee.

Research Diver Orientation:

All Team members must complete the basic Research Diver Orientation course, which is done in three parts. The online (web site) part of this training is to acquaint members with our organization, mission, goals, and procedures to carry out our mission. It is available continously online. Submitting a completed quiz on this material fulfils the training requirement. The in-water portion of the training introduces the skills of basic compass, mapping, navigation to ID stations, fish counting, invertebrate monitoring, data entry, and safety sausage operation and will be offered monthly to new members. The third portion of the Research Diver Training, for is meeting the leadership of the team. A completed signoff list will complete the requirements of this portion of the training. Details of the syllabus for this training are contained in the Research Diver selection of the Training Menu.

Advanced Training:

Specialty Certifications, consisting of Fish Surveying, Invertebrate Monitoring, Mapping, Photography, and Videography, are required before a member is allowed to collect data for the team. To become a specialist in an area, members must pass a certification test and/or achieve a requisite number of dives under the tutelage of qualified specialists in the activity. Advanced training is provided all the specialties to aid in passing the tests or achieving the required experience. It is taught on an regular basis to maintain a pool of available skilled members in each category, and is discussed in detail in the Training section of the web site.

Ongoing Training:

Two 10 minute segments of the general meeting shall be dedicated to training. The first seqment will deal with either fish or invertebrate identification training, and the second will be dedicated to a training topic of general interest to the Team.

Advanced Dive Training:

We are not a diver certification agency, and do not conduct dive training. However, we encourage members to continue their dive training using any of the nationally recognized dive certification agencies. Certifications of particular value to our missons include AOW and Rescue Diving.