After surfacing a non-breathing diver, what should you do next?

Establishing positive buoyancy is crucial when dealing with a non-breathing diver, as it helps to keep the diver afloat and ensures their safety while you focus on administering care. After you achieve positive buoyancy, signaling for help is essential to get further assistance or emergency services involved as quickly as possible. Providing two rescue breaths is a critical step in attempting to revive the diver by delivering oxygen directly into their lungs, which is especially necessary if they are not breathing spontaneously. This combination of actions—ensuring buoyancy, seeking assistance, and initiating rescue breaths—maximizes the chances of successfully resuscitating the diver.

In contrast, the other options do not follow the recommended protocols for such an emergency. For example, immediately starting chest compressions without ensuring buoyancy and safety could lead to further complications. Providing only one rescue breath instead of two may not be sufficient to establish effective breathing. Lastly, while removing dive gear is an important step, it should typically follow the initial actions of establishing buoyancy and rescue breathing, not occur immediately.