The Call for Regulation of Liveaboards: Undercurrent 05/2025

The Call for Regulation of Liveaboards

but who or what can regulate?

from the May, 2025 issue of Undercurrent

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People wonder how the Russians are allowed to move millions of gallons of crude oil around the world in its shadow fleet of obsolete single-skinned oil tankers, beating sanctions and risking ecological disasters. The truth is that the high seas are unregulated, and often, these and other Russian-operated vessels, including warships, turn off their automatic position indicating (AIS Marine Traffic) transmitters, risking collisions at sea to remain covert.

What does this have to do with diving? Well, the plethora of liveaboard fires, capsizes, and groundings, some with fatalities, has given rise to calls for regulation. But who or what has the authority to regulate?

The United States Coast Guard has authority within its limited sphere of influence. Still, even after the unnecessary loss of 34 lives with the Conception disaster in Californian waters, there are those (including DEMA) that campaign against further regulation since it would increase costs. It seems profit takes precedence over human life. Years ago, when the Sundancer liveaboard was deemed unseaworthy in Palau (a territory under U.S. Coast Guard jurisdiction), the owners moved it to another territory in the Pacific, and moved the Sundancer II to Palau....

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