Scientific diving in France: an overview of the current practices in science

European Conference on Scientific Diving, Roscoff, FRA, 14-/05/2023 - 18/05/2023International audienceThe French National Committee for Scientific Diving (CNPS) takes on different tasks including acting as an observatory of occupational scientific diving practices and innovations (Thouzeau et al., 2019). Since 1991 in France, scientific diving has been recognized by law as an occupational sector and is therefore regulated with the aim to reduce the hyperbaric risk. Currently, French scientific diving encompasses many fields such as life sciences and ecology, geosciences, social & cultural sciences including archeology, health & food, engineering sciences, energy... Due to the existence of overseas territories - with France's maritime spaces representing the world's second largest exclusive economic zone - French territories display an extensive variety of submarine habitats. Furthermore, the historical richness of scientific diving in France has led the French scientific diving community to be involved in all oceans worldwide. All subaquatic ecosystems, from the polar regions to the tropical belt, from drowned karsts to freshwater and high altitude lakes, including mesocosms and artificial structures are studied by diving scientists. On top of the traditional diving methods (apnea, open circuit and hookah) scientific diving benefits in recent years from the use of closed-circuit rebreathers but also from combining CCR and saturation methods, which greatly enhanced the study of the mesophotic zones. In light of the diversity of environments, disciplines and scientific issues, scientific divers are continuously innovating to perform outstanding research. This presentation will outline the recent work of the last decade highlighting the importance of scientific diving in science (in France).Thouzeau G., Hocdé R., Beurier J.-P., Coulange M. et al. (2019). The French National Committee on Scientific Diving (CNPS): a key actor for developing scientific diving in France. 5th European Conference on Scientific Diving (ECSD), Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot, Poland, Apr 2019, Sopot, Poland. pp.61-62, doi:10.23708/fdi:01007626