Is Your Boat Dive Group Safe? These Types of Vessels Put You at High Risk — A Must-Read for Dive Shops and Dive Leaders

A diver visiting Orchid Island for a boat dive was struck by a propeller, leaving a scar on his chest. The diver accused the dive shop of using "a fishing vessel with an unlicensed skipper," and has since filed a compensation claim — a case that remains unresolved…

In recent years, it has become all too common to discover — only after a diving accident — that a vessel was not operating in compliance with commercial regulations. When a dive shop or dive leader partners with a non-compliant vessel to run boat dive groups, they cannot escape liability if an accident occurs; they too must face joint legal responsibility. When you lead a dive group on a boat dive, do you truly know whether the vessel you are using meets commercial operating requirements?

What Kind of Vessel Is Legally Compliant for a Boat Dive? Get to Know These Categories

Imagine hailing a taxi only to discover the car has no license plates, the driver has no license, and there is no passenger insurance. You would never accept that on land — so why, when planning a boat dive at sea, do some people turn a blind eye and ignore non-compliant vessels and the risks they conceal?

Under the Regulations for the Management of Water Recreation Activities regarding diving activities: "Vessels carrying passengers for diving activities shall be equipped with a platform or ladder for divers to board and disembark, and shall be fitted with waterproof communication devices with satellite positioning capability — such as a mobile phone — for the dive instructor to wear and use for communication."

Domestically, the only vessel types that currently comply with these regulations and are permitted to carry paying passengers for diving are: passenger small vessels, non-private yachts, and recreational fishery vessels (commonly known as recreational fishing boats). Each vessel type also has its own corresponding insurance and premium requirements. If a dive shop or dive leader uses a non-compliant vessel for commercial passenger transport and an accident occurs, it will be very difficult to mount a defense in court — because failing to meet regulatory requirements means you have already lost the first battle.

The following summarizes definitions drawn from the Vessels Act and the Regulations for the Management of Recreational Fisheries, along with the Editor's condensed overview of each vessel category and its corresponding insurance:

Compliant Vessels for Boat Diving

1. Passenger Small Vessel:
   • Defined as a small vessel whose primary purpose is transporting passengers.
   • Operators must carry operator's liability insurance of no less than NT$2,000,000 per passenger.
   • Must hold a small vessel license; powered small vessel operators must hold a valid driving license.
   • Must provide designated passenger cabins and comply with passenger capacity limits.
   • Must meet emergency preparedness requirements, such as: providing life jackets as required, and conducting monthly lifeboat and firefighting drills with crew.
2. Non-Private Yacht:
   • Defined as a yacht chartered in full, or otherwise made available for a fee to specific persons, for recreational activities.
   • The yacht owner must carry liability insurance; the owner must also purchase personal accident insurance for all persons on board, at no less than NT$2,000,000 per person.
   • Must hold a yacht certificate; the skipper must hold a valid yacht operator's qualification.
   • Must comply with the passenger capacity limit approved by the certifying authority.
   • Must be equipped with an Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel transponder.
   • Must complete 19 special inspections and 11 periodic inspections.
3. Recreational Fishing Vessel:
   • Defined as an existing fishing vessel that has been converted, modified, or newly built to operate a recreational fishery business.
   • The fishery operator must carry liability insurance; coverage must be no less than NT$2,000,000 per casualty, and total per-incident coverage is calculated by multiplying the passenger capacity plus the number of crew members by NT$2,000,000. The fishery operator must also purchase personal accident insurance on behalf of all crew and passengers, at no less than NT$2,000,000 per person.
   • Must hold a recreational fishery license; depending on vessel tonnage, the skipper and senior crew members must hold the appropriate licenses or certificates of competency.
   • Must comply with regulated passenger capacity limits and meet minimum safe crew complement requirements.

Common Non-Compliant Vessels Used for Boat Diving

1. Private Yacht:
   • Defined as a yacht used exclusively by the vessel owner for personal use, or lent free of charge to others for recreational activities.
   • In practice, a number of operators attempt to circumvent regulations by framing commercial use as providing the vessel to their "club members," while in reality they are still carrying passengers for profit.
2. Unregistered Vessel:
   • No vessel registration data; not logged in any official record.
   • In practice, some boat dive operations use vessels of this type. An "untraceable vessel" is subject to no regulations, requires no inspections, and carries risks that simply cannot be managed.

Scenario: Who Is Liable When an Accident Occurs During a Group Boat Dive?

Now that you understand the differences between vessel categories, let's use a scenario to make things easier to grasp! Say Bruce is a dive leader who partners with an unregistered dive shop and sets out on a boat dive aboard an "unregistered vessel." If a group member has an accident, what risks does Bruce face?

As the dive leader, Bruce has a duty of care for the diving safety of his group members by virtue of the fee-for-service relationship. The moment an accident occurs, Bruce's first exposure is criminal liability. If the injured group member seeks compensation — taking a personal injury case as an example — the victim may claim medical expenses, lost income, loss of earning capacity, and emotional distress damages, which can range from modest to very substantial sums.

However, examining Bruce's business partners: an unregistered dive shop cannot obtain public liability insurance, and a non-compliant vessel operating commercially cannot insure its passengers, nor does the vessel operator carry operator's liability insurance. Because nothing is legally compliant, the scope of insurance coverage available to absorb or share Bruce's liability is severely limited. If he faces a large compensation claim, these partners will be unable to support him.

If, on the other hand, Bruce partners with a compliant dive shop and a compliant vessel, all relevant insurance policies can be claimed, using insurance to reduce the financial risk of accident-related compensation. These include:

• Water recreation activity liability insurance, which all commercial water recreation operators are legally required to carry
• Public liability insurance taken out by the dive shop
• Comprehensive marine activity insurance (dive insurance), which can be extended to cover decompression sickness (DCS)
• Travel personal accident insurance, commonly purchased when travelling
• Passenger insurance taken out by the vessel operator

Diving accidents are far from rare. As a dive leader, never fall into the trap of thinking "It won't happen to me." The strong recommendation is always to prioritize compliance. If an accident does occur, not only can the insurance companies bear the compensation liability, but the dive leader can also avoid being held professionally negligent for having chosen a non-compliant dive shop or vessel operator.

For example: if dive leader Bruce uses a private yacht and purchases water activity liability insurance and dive insurance, choosing a non-compliant vessel means that even if the insurer helps cover the compensation payout, Bruce may still be sued and face additional civil claims or criminal charges — potentially even a custodial sentence.

On the flip side, if you are an ordinary diver joining a boat dive group, one way to judge whether a boat dive trip is operating legally is to check whether passenger insurance is included. Yes, all these various insurance policies combined may add up to roughly NT$1,000 or so, making the trip cost higher than a non-compliant operator might charge — but insurance is there precisely for the worst-case scenario. It is always better to be prepared.

A Reference from an Actual Court Case

Using the Orchid Island diving accident mentioned at the opening of this article as an example: following the incident, the instructor faced prosecution on suspicion of negligent injury. During the investigation phase, under the presumption of innocence and in the absence of other concrete evidence, prosecutors deemed the evidence of criminal suspicion insufficient and issued a non-prosecution disposition. On the civil side, the dive leader also reached a settlement with the injured group member, and through the insurance company indicated that actual-expense reimbursement could be provided.

Whether an accident ultimately results in criminal charges or a large compensation claim will still vary depending on the specific circumstances of each case. To minimize risk and keep yourself out of trouble, always do your best to confirm that your partners are legitimate, compliant operators — it makes leading a dive group far less stressful.

The Vessel Really Does Matter — the Editor's Own Close Calls

The vessel is a critical factor in boat dive safety. In pursuit of content for BlueTrend, the Editor often needs to visit less-frequented dive sites, and has on occasion inadvertently encountered inexperienced or non-compliant vessel operators. Here are two real close-call experiences to share.

No Boarding Ladder — Clambering Back Onto the Boat

Two years ago, the Editor needed to shoot footage at a dive site near Guishan Island. To save costs, we joined a group departure — only to arrive and discover that the skipper had no experience carrying divers, the vessel was non-compliant, and there was not even a boarding ladder.

We pressed on and dived anyway. After the first dive, we "clambered" back onto the boat. Chatting with the skipper afterward, we learned that during our dive, the skipper had "set an alarm, listened to music to kill 30 minutes," and had paid absolutely no attention to where the divers had gone — had no idea about tracking bubbles, and had no clue how to use a surface marker buoy (SMB) to locate us. The Editor's thought: "We made it back safely — that was pure luck."

A Dive Plan Gone Sideways — Like Riding a Pirate Ship

Four years ago, while the Editor was filming in Kenting at a dive site none of the dive guides had visited before, things went badly wrong. The current was expected to run northward, but once underwater we discovered it was running south. At that point, the dive should have been called off — but the dive guide decided to "just let everyone drift." After the first dive, when we surfaced, there was no boat in sight.

The entire group drifted for at least 40 minutes. With strong currents and heavy swells, we were continuously pushed further out to sea. When the boat finally appeared, waves were crashing high and the vessel was pitching like a pirate ship — yet it had no choice but to push through and pick us up. The Editor and the other divers scrambled aboard as fast as we could. We noticed the stainless-steel boarding ladder had been bent out of shape by the waves. It genuinely felt like we had cheated death.

It is clear that boat dive safety is intimately tied to the vessel operator and vessel you choose. The Editor learned hard lessons from these experiences, and has since made it a habit to confirm with the dive leader before departure that everything meets commercial operating requirements — and to seek out vessel operators with genuine dive experience whenever possible.

When Compliant Vessels Become the Norm, Boat Diving Gets Safer and the Dive Industry Improves

To better understand the differences between vessel categories and their corresponding insurance, the Editor also spoke directly with 藍海屋 — the dive shop mentioned in the opening of this article. At the time of the incident, 藍海屋 was working with a local skipper and using a non-compliant vessel. Nearly two years on, 藍海屋 has invested close to NT$10,000,000 to build two non-private yachts in order to operate in full compliance. 藍海屋's manager, 強哥, said: "Something happened that should never have happened… We ran for over twenty years without ever owning a boat. Now that we're compliant, the weight on my shoulders has finally lifted."

However, 強哥 noted that even with compliant vessels, the port infrastructure is woefully inadequate — no water, no electricity, no stairs — yet they are charged an annual berthing fee of NT$100,000 (while private yachts and unregistered vessels pay nothing), which has him shaking his head at the absurdity of compliance. He even jokes: "We get inspected every single day — I always want to ask, do they think we're drug dealers? Why is it every day, every day?" Because compliant vessels have complete, easily accessible records, they are easy to inspect — while non-compliant vessels are effectively "off the radar" and never get checked. It is hard not to worry about bad actors driving out the good.

Despite the increased costs and more stringent inspections, 強哥 experienced firsthand how being non-compliant put him at a severe disadvantage during the compensation mediation and litigation process following the diving accident. He therefore hopes to use his own experience to encourage others in the industry to come into compliance. Beyond calling on relevant authorities to upgrade port infrastructure, he strongly hopes the government will "guide operators toward compliance — that is the only way to make the entire diving industry better and safer."

In addition to 強哥, other operators who own compliant vessels have also revealed that the ongoing costs of vessel ownership — including berthing fees, onboard emergency equipment inspection fees, and more — amount to at least NT$600,000 to NT$700,000 in additional expenditure per year. When those costs are reflected in trip pricing, many consumers simply balk. "A lot of consumers don't care whether something is compliant or not — cheap is all that matters. But you get what you pay for. If everyone were compliant, the competition would shift away from price and focus instead on service and quality."

Diving inherently carries many uncontrollable risks. Choosing a non-compliant vessel to save money only adds more uncertainty — it is the equivalent of placing yourself in a high-risk situation. Choosing a compliant vessel gives dive shops, dive leaders, and divers alike the best possible chance of managing risk at the source, and makes every boat dive at least a little bit safer.

Responsible Editor: Jenny Tsai Further Reading:

• 2023 年水肺潛水必學的安全知識：船潛前的潛水簡報Boat Dive Briefing很重要，為了安全請你務必聆聽導潛指示！
• 你一定要知道的 4 點潛水安全基本觀念
• 12條必熟讀潛水安全觀念，潛水不是一場競賽

Further Reading