Buoyancy Compensation: Use or Abuse

The modern scuba diver has become a slave of the buoyancy compensator. Throughout scuba diving history the diver has had to cope with variations in buoyancy due to suit compression and air usage. During the past five years scores of buoyancy compensation units have appeared on the market. Frequently manufacturers and instructors indicate that the buoyancy compensator is extremely useful for aiding the dive in the recovery of objects such as anchors from the bottom. The diver simply grasps the object and inflates the buoyancy compensator: a drastic abuse of an item of life-support equipment. Of even greater concern is the routine over-weighting of divers: especially novice divers in using the new air-elevator technique of diving, which also encourages individuals with little or no swimming ability to pursue scuba diving. This paper discusses the potential abuses of buoyancy compensation systems, calls for a re-evaluation of some buoyancy compensation diving techniques and suggests ways that diving might be made safer through a more conservative approach to modern equipment utilization and swimming skill evaluation.