Safer diving and cleaner harbours are the two of the realities that will be made possible soon with the installation of a Decompression Chamber.

The Fiji Hotel & Tourism Association (FHTA) has been in discussions with the CWM hospital and the Ministry for Tourism since the Association became aware that the old decompression chamber was no longer operational in 2017.

Chief Executive Officer of FHTA, Fantasha Lockington says they have had to advise divers and dive wholesalers that divers must “dive conservatively” which affects Fiji’s dive numbers negatively especially for those divers wanting to dive deeper depths.

This in turn has negatively affected the dive market which a very lucrative and high end segment of the industry given Fiji’s reputation as the “soft coral capital of the world.

The other repercussion for Fiji Lockington adds, has being that most salvage work has had to be put on-hold till a decompression chamber is operational as this is an insurance requirement for salvage companies to undertake often very dangerous underwater work carried out at deep depths.

As a result of this , local commercial dive companies are losing business because they cannot do required work that also includes the removal of wrecks in the Suva, Lautoka and Levuka Harbours which are on-hold pending the confirmation that a chamber is available.

The CEO adds the faster Fiji gets the chamber, the safer it will be for local & international divers as well as the ability to fast track the cleaning up of our harbours.

The Decompression Chamber is expected to be installed and commissioned later this year.