Aquarium Diver

[crabsrkewl]

Ok you know when you go to the aquarium and you see those scubs divers in like the shark tanks. Well this is what i want to be. Does anyone know anything about this career. As of now I'm only a high school student but would like to pursue this as a job.

 

[joe____17]

Yes i know since i tried to volunteer at an aquarium. Essentially all you need is to be able to swim and have a divers license. It's usually a volunteer thing at least where i live.

 

[dragonzim]

Its a volunteer thing at the public aquarium here as well. I had inquired about a few years ago. Their requirements were that you first do about 200 hours of volunteer work at the aquarium like giving tours, keeping the place clean, feeding animals, etc.. Once you did that you were eligible to go in the tanks. I guess they want to make sure that people are really interested in helping the place out before giving them the cool jobs!

 

[bpn25]

Yeh, its a volunteer thing. I will be applying in march at my local aquarium. If you want to make a career out of it I sugest majoring in marine biology. You could alway be a dive boat captain.

 

[makoshrk2]

Man, if I new then what I know now, marine biology would be the way to go, or even zoology

 

[snakeblitz33]

Some aquarium tour places have "aquarist" jobs. It's like 32k/yr, but you really got to know your stuff. I suggest getting at least a masters of marine biology before submitting a resume, and while you are in college, go ahead and volunteer for them as well.
I don't know if all the time and effort in school is worth only 32k/yr, but if that's what you want to do - go for it!

 

[dive girl]

In Southern California, to be a diver at our local aquarium you of course need to be certified and you need to hold a certification of at least Rescue Diver (PADI) or equivalent through another agency. The majority of the divers here are volunteer.

 

[valgae]

the texas state aquarium here in corpus christi only requires five open water dives before you can jump in their tank. its volunteer and mostly just cleaning the glass but it's still pretty cool.