Salary and Outlook
According to the US Department of Labor, there are 3,000 people employed as commercial divers in
the United States.
The median annual salary is $60,360.
Entry level employees earn approximately $37,130 per year and senior employees earn approximately $160,110
per year.
Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.
Job Duties
- Obtain information about diving tasks and environmental conditions.
- Supervise or train other divers, including hobby divers.
- Inspect the condition of underwater steel or wood structures.
- Remove obstructions from strainers or marine railway or launching ways, using pneumatic or power hand tools.
- Set or guide placement of pilings or sandbags to provide support for structures, such as docks, bridges, cofferdams, or platforms.
- Perform activities related to underwater search and rescue, salvage, recovery, or cleanup operations.
- Perform offshore oil or gas exploration or extraction duties, such as conducting underwater surveys or repairing and maintaining drilling rigs or platforms.
- Drill holes in rock and rig explosives for underwater demolitions.
- Remove rubbish or pollution from the sea.
- Set up dive sites for recreational instruction.
- Cultivate or harvest marine species or perform routine work on fish farms.
- Take appropriate safety precautions, such as monitoring dive lengths and depths and registering with authorities before diving expeditions begin.
- Check and maintain diving equipment, such as helmets, masks, air tanks, harnesses, or gauges.
- Communicate with workers on the surface while underwater, using signal lines or telephones.
- Descend into water with the aid of diver helpers, using scuba gear or diving suits.
- Inspect and test docks, ships, buoyage systems, plant intakes or outflows, or underwater pipelines, cables, or sewers, using closed circuit television, still photography, and testing equipment.
- Repair ships, bridge foundations, or other structures below the water line, using caulk, bolts, and hand tools.
- Recover objects by placing rigging around sunken objects, hooking rigging to crane lines, and operating winches, derricks, or cranes to raise objects.
- Operate underwater video, sonar, recording, or related equipment to investigate underwater structures or marine life.
- Take test samples or photographs to assess the condition of vessels or structures.
- Cut and weld steel, using underwater welding equipment, jigs, and supports.
- Install, inspect, clean, or repair piping or valves.
- Carry out non-destructive testing, such as tests for cracks on the legs of oil rigs at sea.
- Install pilings or footings for piers or bridges.
- Salvage wrecked ships or their cargo, using pneumatic power velocity and hydraulic tools and explosive charges, when necessary.