This paper presents a robust and systematic bilateral controller design method for a teleoperation of an underwater manipulator. Disturbance observer is used as a local controller of the master and underwater slave manipulator to set up the teleoperation system as a nominal model by compensating coupled nonlinear terms model uncertainties and external disturbances in the water. Using the linearized master/slave model a $H_{infty}$ optimal control scheme is applied to systematically construct a force reflecting bilateral controller.