Freshwater salvage

[MD Dog]

I know you guys have probly never heard of me, but I'm making a complete change of life here and was hoping for some info help. I'm givin up on being a land lubber and taking to the water, er fresh water at least. I live near Lake Erie, but that's not the fresh water I'm interested in. What I'm interested in is salvaging or cleaning up shall we say, some smaller lakes in NY state. What I don't know is what kinda regs I might run into since I just know the Govt. gotta get there share of everything. So Anyone else know if there are any regs in general or who or where to look for such things. thanx in advance.

[stevemc]

I suppose you mean recovering old bottles, finding old shipwrecks, and old shipping docks, ports, etc. As far as keeping antique bottles, jewelry, and artifacts some states have laws about this, but most do allow this. I know it is a grey area in some. Check on the internet under laws about diving for antiques and artifacts, in the states you plan on.

[MD Dog]

Actually I'm thinking more in terms of old bikes, shopping carts, broken glass etc.. :P
I figured noone will complain about me in the water with dredge etc.. if I have a permit of some kind for salvage ops and I'm cleaning out the manmade crap underwater.

[wwwtimmcp]

a dredge is going to cause a big concern, because of the pollutants in the sediments. as far as modern stuff most govt's could care less. pick up trash in the area you're working and even if there are laws they might look the other way. I have yet to see anyone complain about a beach cleanup.

on the flip side if you really tear an area up and leave trash laying around they will probably shut you down. your state should have an appointed archaeologist, you could always check with them. these are the guys they call when they find artifacts or bones during an excavation like putting in a road or bridge.

one of the big selling points of metal detecting on a beach is promising to remove any lead found. with all the hubub about lead in the environment it is nice to have a little ace card when trying to get permission granted. another is trash detail. finally you can also do bottom surveys and check for obstructions. with water levels low boats and ships can do major damage on unreported obstructions.

[rgecy]

Are you wanting to do this as a business?

[MD Dog]

No,NO business just away to keep the archie police from being called. IN NY they have it all sewn up. can't dig anything older than 50 years or you have to notify state archie who confiscates find.

[G.I.B.]

No,NO business just away to keep the archie police from being called. IN NY they have it all sewn up. can't dig anything older than 50 years or you have to notify state archie who confiscates find.

One of the first rules of dastardly deed doing is to NOT tell everyone the dastardly deed your about to do, or did...

It sounds like your looking for a good cover story to collect artifacts or other treasure while operating under the guise of a beach cleaning environmentalist. (There are a few organizations out there already doing that)

Good luck with the hunt. What to do with all the beach junk your going to collect will prove somewhat problematic, but should prove interesting. The local department of environmental protection, or any number of tree hugging organizations, should have lots of good information for you.

Call the folks several times a week attempting to turn in more rusty 60 year old possible artifact metallic objects, and when you see them driving up to you, grab an armload of rusty trash and run up to them with glee and excitement...

you will eventually be ignored altogether...

[MD Dog]

Thanks Guy, as you can tell I was trying to get info without revealing my dastardly plan but alas I've had to forgo the formalities of good cover planning for the more necessary, I didn't find nuttin of value doctrine.
It is so hard to ask some of these things without revealing too much, but there it is for all to see and copy if you dare !

[Dinkydick]

I have found out that when doing something out of the ordinary
if you wear your underware on your head no one will even come
close to you let alone ask you any questions.

Try it it works

Dinkydick

[MD Dog]

I have found out that when doing something out of the ordinary
if you wear your underware on your head no one will even come
close to you let alone ask you any questions.

Try it it works

Dinkydick

I have no reply for that !

[oltye]

I know you guys have probly never heard of me, but I'm making a complete change of life here and was hoping for some info help. I'm givin up on being a land lubber and taking to the water, er fresh water at least. I live near Lake Erie, but that's not the fresh water I'm interested in. What I'm interested in is salvaging or cleaning up shall we say, some smaller lakes in NY state. What I don't know is what kinda regs I might run into since I just know the Govt. gotta get there share of everything. So Anyone else know if there are any regs in general or who or where to look for such things. thanx in advance.

[joecoin]

Why aren't you looking in Lake Erie?

[MD Dog]

I been a landluber fer a long time and only recently decided ti learn water tectin. I always considered it a specialty all its own. So I'm signed up fer scuba course this spring and going from there. I'm trading up to Sov.gt and excal 1000. But all things aside I'm a beginner in the water, figured lake Erie might be a bit much to begin with. Besides Catskill lakes alone number in the hundreds with thousands of miles of coastline to hunt. :P

[rgecy]

MD,

Good luck. Let us know what you find. We always love to see some good picts.

Robert

[joecoin]

I been a landluber fer a long time and only recently decided ti learn water tectin. I always considered it a specialty all its own. So I'm signed up fer scuba course this spring and going from there. I'm trading up to Sov.gt and excal 1000. But all things aside I'm a beginner in the water, figured lake Erie might be a bit much to begin with. Besides Catskill lakes alone number in the hundreds with thousands of miles of coastline to hunt. :P

Well, let me know when you want to dive the Western Basin of Erie.

[MD Dog]

Thank ya very much fer the invite Joe. I don't know exactly what the western basin is, but I guess I can figure that out when I'm learning to dive this next spring. :P

[joecoin]

Thank ya very much fer the invite Joe. I don't know exactly what the western basin is, but I guess I can figure that out when I'm learning to dive this next spring. :P

If you follow this link:


http://www.alcheminc.com/alpha.html


The area marked as A is the Western Basin, It's very shallow (for easy diving) and full of shipwrecks.

[MD Dog]

Wow, is it like that in all the great lakes Joe ? I knew there were shipwrecks of course but I figured maybe a couple thirty or so not thousands. See I figured I'd be happy, just gettin some jewelery in some of the local lakes, but I never really envisioned myself diving on actual ship wrecks. Have they all been mostly searched or are you even allowed to search them ? Maybe they're treated like graveyards, strictly verboten.

[joecoin]

Wrecks that are identified for sure are off limits to salvage, but you can still dive on them.

Pleasure craft and unidentified wrecks, who can say?

Additionally, there are tons upon tons of scrap metal.

All the Great Lakes have thousands of wrecks, but Lake Erie is the shallowest, and the Western Basin is the shallowest part of Erie.

Lots of public and private beaches also.

[MD Dog]

Hey Joe maybe you can answer a recent question I've come up with. How far out into the water do property rights extend ? Or How far out can a property owner reasonably expect their land to extend ?
Can I detect righ up to their beach or how shallow is legal vs just good etiquette ?