The Fiji Hotels and Tourism Association says the faster we get the Decompression Chamber in the country, the safer it will be for local and international divers and we could fast track the cleaning up of our harbours for a cleaner environment.
The Association has been in discussions with the CWM hospital and the Ministry for Tourism since the Association became aware that the old Decompression Chamber was no longer operational in 2017.
Through its Dive Committee, the Association assisted with the technical specifications for the tender of the new chamber that has been confirmed for installation and commissioning by late this year.
Chief Executive Officer of the Association Fantasha Lockington says the dive market is a very lucrative and high‑end segment of the industry with dive enthusiasts from around the world coming to Fiji to dive the “soft coral capital of the world”.
Lockington says the Association is thrilled that Government has worked with them to have one chamber in place soon.
She also highlighted that the Association had to advise divers and dive wholesalers that divers must “dive conservatively” and be extra careful whilst in Fiji because there was no Decompression Chamber and obviously this affects our dive numbers negatively especially for those divers wanting to dive deeper depths.
Lockington says the other repercussion for Fiji is that most of the salvage work is on‑hold till a Decompression Chamber is operational as this is an insurance requirement for salvage companies to undertake often very dangerous underwater work carried out at deep depths.
She says local commercial dive companies are losing business because they cannot do required work that also includes the removal of wrecks in the Suva, Lautoka and Levuka harbours which are on‑hold pending the confirmation that a chamber is available.
