The New Zealand Underwater Association is delighted to announce that NZUA is now the proud new owners of Dive Pacific, New Zealand’s Dive Magazine. NZUA has taken the magazine over and has contracted Dive Publishing with Gilbert Peterson at the helm, to act as publisher on our behalf. 

Under the guidance of NZUA board member Andrew Berry, the association plans to retain the former owners to manage and publish the magazine in an arrangement we are confident will deliver an exciting win-win step ahead, both for our recreational divers and the wider industry alike. We are starting with a bumper December edition. NZUA has been in the business of representing New Zealand’s divers for 67 years – this latest move is another step to advance our work. Though we are still exploring options we are sure the magazine will offer a higher profile platform by which NZUA will become recognised more clearly as the voice of the New Zealand dive community.

In particular NZUA envisages Dive Pacific will open opportunities to:

• Engage more comprehensively with NZUA members on our three ‘pillar’ issues, environment, safety and sports: 1) Flying the flag for diver safety by managing services such as the Diver Emergency Service (DES) while promoting best practice on and underwater with training and education. 2) Promoting underwater sports in particular spearfishing, underwater hockey and free diving. 3) Building awareness and lobbying for clean seas and stewardship of the marine (and freshwater) environment.
• Support the many, mostly small businesses in the underwater industry; those geared towards recreational diving as well as our commercial divers, through lobbying councils and government and promoting our cause in the media and to the public.
• Bring you more stories about the superb diving in our wonderful, big blue backyard: destinations, trips away,adventures!
• Develop as a forum to discuss the risks and threats our oceans face. 

Its important too for NZUA to record our island nation’s fascinating dive heritage. We have some truly great founding figures, people like Kelly Tarlton, Roger Grace, Wade Doak and many others, who have shown the way. But the opportunities to explore underwater are really just beginning, with many more of our divers’ feats warranting far more attention and accolades. We also need more ways to share the skills, techniques, expertise and experience that our dive communities have in abundance. Dive Pacific magazine is an excellent fit to help develop these forums.

To achieve all these things the magazine needs to engage with sponsors and advertisers, so we will be calling on the wider dive and marine industries for their support.