To deal with the issues of research diving at sea, people representing a diverse spectrum of knowledge and skills needed to be assembled, challenged, and allowed to debate their way to a common point of view. It was critical from the perspective of ship operators, scientists, and Diving Safety Officers to provide for incorporation of new technologies and distant operations in an efficient and safe manner rather than to limit our present in situ activities at sea 'just to existing capabilities. This was not an easy task.
First, it took the vision, insight, and concerns of the late Captain John McMillan (NSF) to perceive the need to start the project, and the energy, experience, and personal involvement of Dolly Dieter (NSF), who took his place, to bring the project to a successful conclusion. NSF, along with NOAA, generously provided the resources to allow this process to take place.
I must thank the participants, Alice Alldredge, Timothy Askew, Jack Bash, David Casiles, E. R. Dolly Dieter, William Fife, Leon Greenbaum, Jr., Thomas Hall, Lynne Carter Hanson, John Harper, Michael Lang, Laurence Madin, Charles Mitchell, Jack Nichols, Robert Sand, Phillip Sharkey, Robert Steneck, James Stewart, Jon Witman, and James Williams for their constant and unerring commitment to our objectives despite frequent conflicting demands on their time. The participants showed their dedication by giving up holidays, weekends and evenings for long meetings and by responding to short lead times for preparing position papers. Their informality provided for creative interaction and lively discussions. My thanks to not only the individuals, but to the organizations which they represented and especially to the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, under whose auspices the workshop was conducted.
The workshop's planning committee members, Jack Bash, Lynne Carter Hanson, Robert Sand and Phil Sharkey deserve my thanks. I would especially like to thank Phil Sharkey for his dogged determination in pulling a coherent report out of our separate contributions.
Finally, I would like to thank, in advance, NSF and NOAA for their efforts toward bringing new technologies safely to the in situ scientific community.
James J. Griffin, Ph.D
Workshop Chairman
Director of Facilities
Graduate School of Oceanography
University of Rhode Island