[Coral-List] Coral Diving Award

[Alan Strong]

How about the TOP TEN???

Jim Hendee wrote:
> Greeting again...
>
>     As the subject of a good story and for purposes of a follow-up
> award, Dave Fuzzo has asked if he could query Coral-List subscribers to
> determine who has dived longer and in more places than any coral
> scientist.  He will follow-up in January, but for the time being, I
> guess some of the qualifiers we can think of are:
>
>     * Does "any coral scientist" include deceased divers?  Like, does
>       Jacques Cousteau pass muster? 
>     * Which leads to the next question:  How do we define "scientist?" 
>       Peer-reviewed publications?  What about those folks who dive
>       thousands of hours on, say, the GBR for the benefit of the
>       science, but themselves don't publish?  I know guys who dive every
>       single week of the year, and they have an education in marine
>       biology or oceanography, but they don't publish.
>     * When considering places dived, does that include repeat dives, or
>       unique sites, and if so, what about spatial separation of said
>       sites?  (Like, does a dive 100 m down the beach count?)
>     * What constitutes the proof for purposes of the Award?  Logged
>       dives in an official log for, say, PADI?
>     * Should there be an official end date for the tally (say, June, 2010)?
>     * What should the name of the Award be?
>
>     Whoever "wins" almost doesn't matter, because the stories that will
> come out of this would be accounts of some great adventures and some
> nice chronicles in coral reef research.  The top head-soakers, whoever
> they may be, certainly deserve recognition, that's for sure, and I hope
> they get international recognition beyond what they might already have. 
> After all, it's a significant risk with every dive, as TG could
> certainly attest.
>
>     Just some thoughts for the coming weeks...
>
>     Cheers,
>     Jim
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>   

-- 
**** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* 
Alan E. Strong, Ph.D.  
NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Consultant  
Strong Research, Inc. & AJH Environmental Services  
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  
NOAA Coral Reef Watch Program  
 e-mail: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov  
url: coralreefwatch.noaa.gov  
 
E/RA31, SSMC1, Room 5311  
1335 East West Hwy  
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3226  
301-713-2857 x134               Fax: 301-713-3136  
Cell: 410-490-6602