Paul Dimeo is currently the Dive Safety Officer for the Aquarium of the Pacific and has worked there since 2006. He is responsible for over 200 volunteer and staff divers conducting on average 88 hours of dive operations weekly. The Aquarium of the Pacific conducts over 13,000 dives annually both inside and outside of the aquarium, and in 2007 the AoP safely completed over 13,400 dives totaling more than 6,670 hours of bottom time. Paul’s diving background includes 11 years of commercial diving in the offshore oilfields, as an air, mixed-gas, and saturation diver and supervisor, and a NAUI Scuba Instructor. Currently, he also is a commercial dive consultant for numerous Southwest service companies.

There is no doubt that Los Angeles has been a herald of the diving community.  The Los Angeles County Underwater Instructors Association was one of the first dive certifications in the world.  The Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber is an industry-leader in dive accident management.  And Los Angeles County professionals are some of the world’s experts on dive safety.

John Kades, an investigator with the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office, has created a presentation on dive accidents in Southern California and has some invaluable information on how to be a safe diver in local waters.  He’s been giving this presentation to the Scuba Show for years and has rolled a lot of research which presents the facts as they happen. John will be speaking at the August Dive Club Meeting on Tuesday, August 5 at 7:00 PM at Eco Dive Center.