PSA Publishes Report of Worldwide Dives to 300 Metres

Study shows that relatively few deep sea dives have been undertaken in Norway compared with other countries such as the USA, France and Japan.

The study shows that Norwegian deep sea diving occupies a relatively modest position in an international context in terms of scope and progression to greater depths. International deep sea diving to 300 metres of sea water (MSW) and deeper was quite widespread 10-15 years before the start of Norwegian deep sea diving.

There have been many dives to 300-313 MSW, but relatively few down to 500 MSW or deeper.

The ten deepest (from 600 MSW down) have taken place in the USA, Germany and the UK. The deepest hyperbaric chamber dive was performed in Marseille (701 MSW), and the deepest offshore dive was in the Mediterranean (534 MSW), both by the French company Comex.

The deepest operational dives on the Norwegian Continental Shelf have been very restricted in scope, with a maximum depth of 248 MSW (in connection with the laying of the Statpipe pipeline).

The report, which has been prepared by Norsk undervannsintervensjon AS (NUI) on behalf of the PSA, only covers trial, training, test and verification dives. Such compilations have been published in the past, but none have included as many deep sea dives as in this report.

Press Release, September 13, 2013