IADP Interview · December 2025
As 2025 comes to a close, the International Association of Dive Professionals is entering a new phase: stronger governance, clearer structure, a renewed digital framework and a practical focus on membership, professional representation and long-term industry development.
After strengthening its administrative base, moving to La Cité des Associations in Brussels, and adopting updated Articles of Association, the IADP is preparing for the years ahead with a clearer institutional foundation and a renewed focus on practical delivery.
The association’s next phase is not built around short-term visibility. It is built around structure: membership activation, digital systems, professional services, industry analysis, project development and stronger representation for those working across the underwater sector.
For the IADP, 2025 was about putting the foundations back in place.
The association has existed as an idea and as a professional community for many years, but an international professional association cannot rely only on goodwill, informal networks or social media presence. It needs structure. It needs a legal base. It needs governance. It needs systems that can survive beyond one person or one phase of development.
Moving our administrative base to La Cité des Associations and adopting updated Articles of Association were important steps in that process. They may not look spectacular from the outside, but they matter. They give the IADP a stronger institutional foundation from which we can now build membership, services, projects and representation.
2025 was not a relaunch in the commercial sense. It was a consolidation year. It was the year in which the IADP became structurally more serious.
Because without a proper foundation, everything else becomes fragile.
It is easy to create campaigns, websites, social media groups or big statements. It is much harder to build an organisation that can actually represent people, manage projects, handle members, develop services and remain accountable.
The diving industry already has enough loose initiatives and short-term enthusiasm. The IADP needs to be different. It needs to be independent, but also credible. That means having a proper nonprofit structure, a board, Articles of Association, internal rules, financial accountability and a clear operational framework.
At the same time, we are deliberately keeping the organisation digitally streamlined. We do not need a heavy office structure or expensive bureaucracy. We need a stable legal base combined with modern online systems and practical coordination. That is the model.
The original reason was simple: dive professionals were fragmented and underrepresented.
Across the industry, professionals carry a lot of responsibility. They train divers, run operations, fill tanks, maintain equipment, guide guests, manage boats, support scientific work, document the underwater world, restore reefs, and often act as the public face of the entire diving sector. Yet they rarely have an independent voice of their own.
Most structures in the industry are built around agencies, brands, operators, manufacturers or commercial interests. Those are all part of the sector, and many of them play important roles, but they do not replace independent professional representation.
The IADP was created because the people doing the work need a structure that speaks from their perspective.
The mission has not really changed. If anything, it has become clearer.
When the idea first started, the industry was already fragmented. Since then, the sector has become more digital, more consolidated, more commercially pressured and in many ways less stable for the working professional.
Many dive professionals still work without real career protection, without serious representation, without collective visibility and without a proper international structure defending their long-term interests.
So the mission is the same: bring professionals together, build an independent voice, and create practical value. What has changed is the maturity of the approach. We now have a clearer structure, clearer projects and a better understanding of what needs to be built.
It means the association must be built around the realities of people who actually work in and around diving.
That includes recreational instructors and guides, commercial divers, scientific divers, media professionals, dive centre staff, boat crews, tank fillers, equipment specialists, environmental workers, hyperbaric and medical professionals, manufacturers, researchers and many others whose income or professional activity is linked to the underwater sector.
The IADP does not see the diving industry as only recreational training. That is one part of it, but the professional diving ecosystem is much broader. Our 10-sector framework reflects that.
In practical terms, “By Professionals, For Professionals” means representation, professional visibility, member services, industry intelligence, legal and administrative orientation, project participation, cooperation and eventually stronger collective influence.
The biggest issue is fragmentation.
People work in different countries, under different systems, for different agencies, operators or employers. Many are self-employed or seasonal. Many move between destinations. Many have no collective protection, no representation and no long-term career structure.
Then there is the issue of recognition. The public often sees diving as a lifestyle activity, not as a profession. That perception affects wages, working conditions, insurance, legal standing and the seriousness with which professionals are treated.
There is also too much dependence on corporate structures. Training agencies, manufacturers and operators have their own interests. That is normal. But professional representation cannot be left entirely to commercial entities.
If dive professionals want a stronger position, they need to organise.
Because representation only works if it is not controlled by the same interests it may sometimes need to question.
The IADP is not anti-agency, anti-business or anti-industry. That would be pointless. The diving industry needs agencies, operators, manufacturers, media, travel companies, resorts, vessels, schools and many other actors.
But working professionals need their own independent voice within that ecosystem.
Independence means we can cooperate where cooperation makes sense, but still speak honestly about professional standards, working conditions, safety, representation, environmental responsibility and the long-term direction of the industry.
Without independence, representation becomes marketing.
The first priority is membership activation.
We need to bring people into the structure and start building a real member base. Not just followers, not just supporters, but members who understand that a professional association only becomes strong when people participate.
The second priority is TheDiveProfessional.org, which will become the member-facing platform for services, information, professional identity and future benefits.
The third priority is communications. The IADP needs to publish regularly, explain clearly, and build credibility through serious content. That includes updates, industry briefings, country reports and professional analysis.
The fourth priority is project development, especially through GoBlu3, Operation Northern Seas and Operation Red Sea. These are not side projects. They show how professional divers can contribute to environmental action, coastal capacity and blue economy development.
Finally, we need to keep building the internal structure: volunteers, committees, systems, procedures and governance.
TheDiveProfessional.org is intended to become the operational member portal.
The official IADP website explains who we are, what we stand for and what we are building. TheDiveProfessional.org is where members will progressively access services, benefits, resources, professional information and community functions.
We are taking a step-by-step approach. It is better to build a stable system gradually than to promise everything at once and deliver badly.
In the long term, the platform should support member profiles, professional recognition, gated resources, industry discounts, project participation, training-related resources, publications and practical services.
It is the digital home for the professional community we are building.
They are essential.
If the IADP wants to be taken seriously, it cannot only speak in slogans. It needs to produce useful information.
Industry Briefs and Country Reports will help map and explain the diving sector in a more structured way. They can identify trends, risks, opportunities, regional differences, professional challenges and sector-specific developments.
This is important because the diving industry is often discussed in a very narrow way. Too much focus is placed on recreational training alone. The IADP looks at the wider underwater economy: recreational, commercial, scientific, medical, environmental, media, manufacturing, support infrastructure, public safety, military and sport-related activity.
Good information creates credibility. Credibility creates influence.
They show that professional divers are not only service providers. They can be environmental actors, restoration workers, coastal observers, educators and blue economy contributors.
GoBlu3 is the broader framework. Operation Northern Seas and Operation Red Sea are practical expressions of that framework in specific regions and contexts.
Operation Red Sea came from years of field experience and direct environmental work. Operation Northern Seas is part of the future European and North Sea direction. GoBlu3 connects the professional diving community to restoration, monitoring, biodiversity awareness and coastal resilience.
The long-term idea is simple: professional divers are already in the water. They already see what is happening. With the right structure, training and partnerships, they can become part of the solution.
We need serious early members.
That does not only mean senior professionals. It means people who understand that building something takes time and that representation does not appear by magic.
We need instructors, guides, commercial divers, scientific divers, environmental workers, media professionals, equipment specialists, dive centre managers, boat operators, manufacturers, medical and hyperbaric professionals, and supporters who understand the value of the profession.
We also need people who are willing to contribute constructively. The IADP is not being built as a complaint platform. It is being built as a professional structure.
There is plenty to criticise in the industry, but criticism alone does not build anything.
A very important role, but it has to be organised properly.
The IADP needs volunteers in research, communications, legal orientation, fundraising, project development, online community management, environmental programmes and member support.
However, volunteer work cannot mean chaos. It needs clear tasks, realistic expectations and respect for people’s time.
At this stage, volunteers can help build the foundation faster. They can help with research, writing, outreach, translation, content, administration and specific project tasks. Over time, as funding improves, some of these functions may become paid roles or contracted services.
For now, volunteer participation is one of the most practical ways for people to help move the association forward.
In three years, I want the IADP to be recognised as a serious independent voice for dive professionals.
That means an active membership base, functioning member services, regular publications, a working digital platform, active volunteers, clear governance, and several credible projects under development or in operation.
I also want the IADP to be producing useful industry intelligence, not just promotional content. The association should become a place where people can find serious analysis about the diving profession and the wider underwater sector.
Most importantly, I want members to feel that the IADP is useful. Representation must be idealistic enough to matter, but practical enough to justify membership.
In ten years, the IADP should be a recognised international professional body.
It should have a strong member base, sector committees, regional structures, credible publications, member services, legal and administrative guidance, environmental programmes, and a recognised voice in discussions affecting the diving profession.
It should also be able to cooperate with agencies, operators, governments, NGOs, researchers and industry stakeholders without losing its independence.
That is the long-term ambition: not to replace existing structures, but to fill the gap that has existed for too long.
The profession itself needs a voice.
Because I have seen what this profession can be, and I have also seen how badly it can be undervalued.
Diving has given me a life, a career, a network and a purpose. I have worked in training, operations, marine tourism, expedition work, environmental restoration and project development. I have seen the best of the industry and the worst of it.
What keeps me committed is the belief that the people doing the work deserve better structures around them.
The underwater world needs professionals. Coastal communities need professionals. The blue economy needs professionals. Conservation needs professionals. But professionals need representation, recognition and support.
That is why I keep going.
I would say: your scepticism is understandable.
Many dive professionals have seen promises come and go. They have seen organisations speak about community while serving commercial priorities. They have seen passion used as an excuse for low pay or poor conditions.
But the answer cannot be to do nothing.
If professionals remain fragmented, nothing changes. If they organise, at least there is a chance to build leverage, visibility and support.
The IADP will not solve everything overnight. That would be dishonest. But it can become a structure through which professionals start building something that belongs to them.
Join early. Participate. Volunteer where you can. Share the message. Help build the structure.
The IADP is entering a practical building phase. The foundations are stronger, the direction is clearer, and the need is obvious.
If we want a stronger profession, we have to stop waiting for someone else to build it for us.
IADP – DIVE PROFESSIONALS
International Association of Dive Professionals
Non-Profit Association (ASBL)
Rue Émile Féron 153
1060 Saint-Gilles (Brussels) – Belgium
A proud member of Cité des Associations, Saint-Gilles
