Emmy Ahlen - Professional diver, Vrakdykarpensionatet
Wednesday April 19th, 10.00-11.00
Interview by: Jakob Renmark and Emmy Haavisto
Location of interview: Zoom-meeting
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Diving background
When interviewing Emmy Ahlen it soon became clear that her diving experience is very extensive. Her little over 20 years of diving and background of being an instructor made her a perfect source of insight into the diving community. Her diving history started in Asia but after almost 15 years she returned to Sweden and Östersjön. Since 2016 she has been running her own diving school, Vrakdykarpensionatet, in Stockholm. Through all dives and time spent under the surface Ahlen developed a deep interest for and knowledge of marine life and environment. To get an even greater understanding she studied marine science and biology.
Ahléns main reason for diving is to explore and it's the thrill of discovering new places and seeing new things that attracts her.
Connection to the ocean
Emmy has spent a lot of time in our oceans and has first hand experience of its changes and how human actions have influenced it. She gave one very distinct example of how our behavior can affect the environment underneath the surface. When diving before, during and after the pandemic effects on seabed could be seen. Emmy described how the amount of sediment decreased but then increased fast and greatly as soon as the Swedes could start using their boats normally again. She also gives examples of how different populations have changed and how “the amount of fine filamentous algae exploded after the pandemic”.
Even though she points out various problems humans cause in the ocean she is also very eager to highlight the fact that it's also visible that we have taken measures and that these actions are making a difference.
Divers use of sensors
As the technology has developed so has the diving equipment. We ask Emmy about what equipment they use but also what progress has been made and what new gadgets they have now compared to a few years ago. Diving requires a lot of gadgets and they keep logbooks of a lot of data already. With their diving watches / computers they can keep track of time, depths, oxygen and temperature.
We asked Emmy about what she thought would be most important for us to think about when designing a sensor for divers to take with them to the ocean. She pointed out that the most important thing is that the sensor does’nt affect neither the quality nor safety of the dive. The size of the sensor is important as well as the weight of it. She explained that especially for new divers it can be hard to find the balance and that the sensor should not disturb too much. Other things to consider was color and to choose a color that would be visible even deep under water (that would be not green or red).
The diving community
According to Emmy the majority of all dives in Sweden occur in groups. Divers are often a part of an association or club and their dives happen through these or other actors such as diving schools and boats. Even though their main focus is on diving, the context, community and people are a huge part of the diving experience.
Logbook and culture of divers
As already mentioned diving is a very technical sport, requiring lots of gadget and equipment. However it’s not only the equipment that is critical but also data such as temperature. All this data that divers collect is logged and often even shared online for other divers to see. Emmy explained that there are several platforms for online data sharing and showed how the one she uses (dykarna.se) worked. As the technical development and digitalisation is progressing the diving has changed as well. More data and information has become available, making diving safer and easier.
How to motivate divers to contribute to citizen science
Since Emmy has a lot of experience of diving and divers both in Sweden but also around the globe her opinion about how to motivate people to gather data and how to approach them was highly valued. We asked her about what she thought about focusing on the individual diver or the bigger associations and clubs and her answer was clear - to focus on these companies rather on the individual. She explained that the dives often are done in structured forms through clubs and associations or other groups and that it would be both more effective to target these. Then the individual would not have to take as much responsibility at the same time as more people would be involved.