Keeping track of scientific dives in countries with incipient diving programmes: the SciDive record forms

Pre-dive checks and dive logs are fundamental documentation for any diving operation and must be incorporated as mandatory ‘good operating practices’ in scientific diving (SD) projects. Data included in dive logs may vary in detail, however, there is basic information to provide based on global standards. Differently to several developed countries in Europe, North America and Australasia, there are countries with incipient, sometimes non-regulated, SD programmes. In this article the importance of documentation in SD is highlighted and record forms are provided as templates, including versions both in English and Spanish. The Diving Supervisor (DS) is the designated person to fill the ‘Daily SciDive Log’ and ‘SCUBA & surface-supplied LogSheet’ (Table 1, 2 and 3, respectively), whilst every diver is responsible for filing their own ‘SciDiver’s Digital LogBook’ (Table 4). General and specific considerations for all tables are described throughout the text. This effort was done to facilitate systematic data management and start developing the bases towards solid national/regional standards on scientific diving operations, particularly for those countries with incipient (scientific) diving programmes.