Dive Team

Pursuant to RSA 206:26 XII, The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is the agency responsible for conducting search and rescue missions within the woodlands and inland waterways throughout the State of New Hampshire.

In the early 1960’s, the first Department diving activities began to take hold. Conservation Officers James Clark and William Mooney were amongst the first divers to make recovery dives. In 1967, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division established the State’s first, and only, recognized dive team. The team was established through the leadership of Conservation Officer Lieutenant Peter B. Lyons and Dive Training Instructor Don Stevens, owner of Atlantic Aquasport in Rye, New Hampshire. The mission of the team was then, as it is today, to recover drowning victims in the State’s inland waterways. In addition, the team assists federal, local, and state law enforcement agencies with search and recovery of submerged evidence in criminal matters. The team also conducts dive operations serving in a homeland security capacity upon request.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Dive Team is part of the Law Enforcement Division’s Search and Rescue Program within the Department. The team consists of 14 specially trained and skilled Conservation Officers who respond to drowning incidents and other diverse calls for dive related assistance throughout the State of New Hampshire.

Dive Team members must meet specific physical agility testing requirements and continually obtain specialized training related to varied dive missions during all four seasons to include ice diving, current/river dives, and other adverse and hazardous condition diving throughout the year. Members receive annual training for low visibility conditions, evidence retrieval and preservation, safety equipment and techniques, current, saltwater/tidal and wireless communication training.

In 2004, the Team acquired a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) through a Homeland Security Grant. This new technology consists of a submersible, remotely propelled video camera that assists in the search for victims and evidence in conditions not conducive to diving.

Equipment utilized by divers include: Viking Dry Suits, Exo 26 Full-Face Diving Masks with wireless communication capabilities that provide divers with the ability to communicate with the surface and other divers.