DSAT Gas Blending Course Completion
Today is the graduation for Oskar and Darran who completed their DSAT Gas Blender course with Big Blue Tech.
Like most courses we deliver we added our own flavour giving the student practical tools and skills to use their certification to the full extent.
Although DSAT offer a good basis for theoretical education they lack in giving the student an understanding in gas compression, compressor usage and a strong minimum amount of time blending both air and nitrox.
So we gave them the standard DSAT Gas Blender course and then gave them more. Over the past 2 full days ( 9-5 ) Oskar and Darran completed the following skills.
Day 1
- Bauer Compressor operation and maintenance (changing filters, synthetic oil, operating procedure etc)
- Twin Cylinder with manifold dissemble and assembly
- Cylinder and Valve cleaning with visual inspection
- Gross cleaning cylinders to remove corrosion.
- Using Compressor and Banks to fill air.
- Using 3 different filling whips to fill air.
- Theory and slide show presentation.
( during this time the students filled 25 air cylinders and 5 twin tanks)
Day 2
- Final Theory and Final Exam
- Partial Pressure Blending
- Filling oxygen only systems
- Continuous Flow Blending Methods
- Cylinder labeling and marking
- Oxygen Cleaning
(during this day the students filled 17 Nitrox Tanks including 2 Twin Sets and 2 deco tanks with 36%, 32% and 60% nitrox)
Because Oskar and Darran completed their course with Big Blue Tehc and we know they have the hands on skills required to actually work in this role so they’ll be earning the money spent on their course back in a few days after we complete 5 students doing their nitrox course on the 29th, that’s 10 tanks and they’ll be first in line to fill them back up and get paid for it!
For more information on this course and how you can do it, please contact us for more information.
Ottawa moves to restrict hakapik club in sealing
Ottawa says it wants to make sealing more humane by restricting how hunters use the controversial hakapik club. The government faces pressure from the European Union, which has threatened to ban imports of Canadian seal products next year.
The hakapik is a spiked club first developed by Norwegians and is designed to deliver a lethal blow to the animal. But critics say the tool is a symbol of the cruelty of the hunt.
On Saturday, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans released a report on amending the Marine Mammal Regulations (MMR).
The amendments “are proposed to provide for a more acceptable humane method of harvesting seals,” says the executive summary of the proposed regulations.
“The proposal would modify the three-step process (stunning, checking, and bleeding the seals) to prohibit the use of a hakapik or club for seals over one year old, to require sealers to verify death only through palpation of the skull and to require the animal to be bled for one minute prior to skinning.”
It’s believed most sealers already use rifles to slaughter seals. But last April,Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams called for an outright ban of the hakapik.More than 70 per cent of the seals are killed off the north coast of the province.However, many hunters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence favour the hakapik because they work in close proximity to one another, so rifles would be too dangerous.
The European Union has proposed a ban on seal products from countries that “practice cruel methods” — that could include bludgeoning seals with a hakapik.
Rebecca Aldworth, spokesperson for Humane Society International, told CTV Newsnet on Saturday that the move to ban the hakapik was “a cynical and cosmetic gesture by the federal government to cover up the cruelty of the commercial seal hunt in the wake of the European Union ban on seal product trade.”
Sealer Jack Troake, of Twillingate, N.L., told The Canadian Press that most seal hunters use a rifle to hunt their prey rather than a hakapik.
“We’re trying to appease the protest movement (with the new regulations),” he said Saturday.
“We’ve been doing this for years.”
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the new restrictions would ensure sealers are still able to make a living, by ensuring Canada would not come under any EU ban. “Implementing the proposal would help to maintain market access for an industry with a present export value of ($13 million),” says the document.
“The proposal makes it possible to maintain an important economic activity for the coastal people of Canada,” it adds. “It would also align itself with the latest veterinary advice and recommendations, requests of the European Union, and concerns from animal welfare groups.”
The DFO report also estimates how much it would cost to implement the proposed restrictions: $1.8 million to $3.6 million. That amount would include increased costs to sealers and local coast guard crews.
Along with preventing hunters from using the hakapik as the primary tool to kill seals, the restrictions would also clarify the process of harvesting. The three-step process includes stunning the seal, confirming its death and bleeding the animal.
To ensure sealers follow the guidelines in 2009, the DFO says it would use helicopter-mounted cameras to film the hunt. Actual enforcement would be carried out by coast guard officials aboard icebreaker vessels.
Aldworth said “the overwhelming majority of Canadians want the seal hunt to be ended.”
“So, if we’re going to invest public resources in the seal hunt, it should be in ending the seal hunt and finding constructive solutions for the communities that are impacted by ending that hunt,” she said.
