The Australian Underwater Federation (AUF) is the governing body for

underwater sports Underwater sports is a group of competitive sports using one or a combination of the following underwater diving techniques - breath-hold, snorkelling or scuba, usually including the use of equipment such as diving masks and fins. These sport ...

in Australia.

Mission

The mission of the AUF is:

Bringing Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World.

Organisation

The AUF is a membership-based organisation whose day-to-day operations are overseen by a federal board and by a number of committees (known as commissions) for following activities –

finswimming Finswimming is an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water's surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins or underwater with monofin either by holding one's breath or ...

(commission known as ''Ozfin Inc.''),

scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...

, snorkel,

spearfishing Spearfishing is a method of fishing that involves impaling the fish with a straight pointed object such as a spear, gig or harpoon. It has been deployed in artisanal fishing throughout the world for millennia. Early civilisations were familia ...

and

underwater hockey Underwater hockey (UWH), (also known as Octopush in the United Kingdom) is a globally played limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into the opposing team's goal by propelling ...

(commission known as ''Underwater Hockey Australia''). It also currently has state branches in New South Wales (incorporated as the ''Underwater Skindivers & Fishermen's Association Inc'') and Queensland, and state commissions for finswimming and underwater hockey in most states.

Recognition

The AUF is recognised by the

Australian Sports Commission The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as S ...

as the national sporting organisation (NSO) for underwater sports in Australia. It is the Australian representative to

Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) is an international federation that represents underwater activities in underwater sport and underwater sciences, and oversees an international system of recreational snorkel and scu ...

(CMAS), with full voting rights to the Sports and Technical Committees and non-voting rights to the Scientific Committee. The AUF is a member of the World AquaChallenge Association (WAA) and Recfish Australia. It is also one of the organisations represented on the

Standards Australia Standards Australia is a standards organisation established in 1922 and is recognised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Australian government as the primary non-government standards development body in Australia. It is a com ...

's Committee CS/83, Recreational Underwater Diving.

Underwater sports

The AUF is the governing body for the following underwater sports within Australia:

and

underwater rugby Underwater rugby (UWR) is an underwater team sport. During a match two teams try to score a negatively buoyant ball (filled with saltwater) into the opponents’ goal at the bottom of a swimming pool. It originated from within the physical ...

Diver training

Historically, the AUF operated as a diver training organisation offering instructor training and certification, and recreational diver certification in both snorkel and scuba diving. It currently issues CMAS International Diving certificates in its capacity as a member of the CMAS Technical Committee in respect to its own training programs and those offered by FAUI (formerly the Federation of Australian Underwater Instructors and now known as the Formation of Australian Underwater Instructors) and the now-defunct Australian branch of NAUI. AUF currently offers training in snorkelling (including breath-hold technique) for open water and

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

environments, and in coaching levels accredited with the Australian Government's National Coaching Accreditation Scheme (NCAS) for three sports. Originally launched in 1985 under the name of the School Snorkelling Programme, the openwater training stream (known as Ocean) supports both recreational diving as well as the sports of spearfishing and photofishing (a breath-hold version of the sport of

underwater photography Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while diving on surface supply, snorkeling, swimming, from a submersible or remotely operated underwater v ...

offered by CMAS) while the pool stream is intended to develop proficiencies in finswimming and underwater hockey. The following instructional levels are currently offered – Finswimming Coach Level 1 and 2, Ocean Coach level 1 and 2, and Underwater Hockey Coach Level 1 and 2.

References

External links

Official AUF website

Australian Underwater Federation – Queensland Inc. homepage

Underwater Skindivers & Fishermen's Association Inc. homepage

Underwater Hockey Australian Commission website

Welcome to Ozfin – Australian Fin Swimming AUF Spearfishing homepage
{{authority control Sports governing bodies in Australia Diver organizations Underwater sports organizations Finswimming Underwater hockey governing bodies Underwater rugby 1953 establishments in Australia Underwater sport in Australia