The Fisher System??

[theGOLD]

I am totally confused on how Mel FIsher's company operates. (ie- what do they own leases to, how do they subcontract out, what is their relationship with the government in terms of the leases, etc)

Also, when they are subcontracting out on wrecks, how do they keep tabs on what is brought up and what is not?? Do they place someone on each ship to record it or what? The way that I understood it was that they have dibs if you will, on much of the leases for wrecks around Florida, and they deal with the government, and then they subcontract out the actual excavation on most of thos subcontracts right? Wrong? Totally and completely wrong

If anyone has any sources or anything they can post on the agreements they use, that would make sense to me. For some reason I actually enjoy reading leagal documents. I would love to see the standard agreements that they have with subcontracters, and also the agreement they have with the government. Anybody know where I can read those??


Im in the Bahamas now, and Cornelius is kind enough to lend me a wreck map to check out some wrecks around here. Hopefully I can get some cool pics up when the wind dies a bit here!!


Thanks and Happy hunting!!

-theGOLD

 

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[wreckdiver1715]

Try this link...

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,45080.0.html


Tom

 

[mad4wrecks]

Of the 6 discovered 1715 wrecksites, The Real 8 company had the original leases, under an agreement with the state of Florida. This goes back to around 1960 or so. As the Real 8 Co. eventually went belly up, Mel Fisher (who started out as a subcontractor on the 1715 fleet himself), filed federal admirality claims on the wrecksites and was awarded rights to them by the federal government. There were 2 exceptions. The Urca de Lima, north of Ft Pierce inlet, became a state of Florida underwater archaeological preserve and all salvage activity was prohibited. The Cabin wreck was co-owned by Mel and Bob Marx. Marx sold his rights to the wreck to my good friend Chris James, around 1998 I believe, for something like $80K. All of these admirality leases were grandfathered in when the Abandoned Shipwreck Act went into effect in 1987.

The Fishers have leases on other wrecks as well, from earlier and later time periods. They do not have ALL of the coast tied up with leases as some people think. Historical Reserach & Development, Inc, of which I am affiliated, has a 5 mile exploration lease along north Vero Beach. We have identified wreck material from 3 different centuries, including what we think is one of the 1715 ships. There is also a WWII airplane in our lease area.

Heartland Treasure Quest has discovered a very promising wreck in Southern Brevard county and it looks like the scatter pattern runs into the Fisher's E-89 area

There are a number of other companies with exploration and salvage leases throughout Florida.

-Tom Gidus -

 

[Voldbjerg]

Tom

Would that WW2 plane be covered by the lease?

/SV

 

[mad4wrecks]

Honestly, I don't know. I think different laws apply when we are talking military aircraft and ships. The wrecks is well known and has unfortunately been "picked apart" for years but there was still some decent structural remains the last I saw it in 2002.

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Hmmmmm this started as a request for information on how the Fisher organization ran it's salvage operation. Unfortunately, I had to delete a few post in this thread.
Lets try to stay on topic. If you want to talk about sunken aircraft, just start a new topic instead of hijacking (no pun intended), someone else's thread.

Thanks

Tom

 

[theGOLD]

Ha, thats funny, I was going to ask another question about the Fisher subcontracting and things, but I didnt want to be off topic with the airplane stuff. Pheww, well here goes:
How do they ensure that the subcontracters are reporting everything that they bring up? Taking Fisher's company again, do they put someone on evey boat? Do they have some kind of fullproof system? Or is there probably a lot of skimming going on?

As well, do both the subcontractor and the original lease holder deal with the government?

Thanks guys and nothing to report from the Bahamas yet, but I am finally getting over my cold which decided to render me diveless on the day I arrived... so tomorrow Ill be out lookin around (carefully of course)!

-theGOLD

 

[mad4wrecks]

It is on the honor system, theGold. It works very well. As a subcontractor they are allowing you to keep half of what you find after the state takes their cut off the top. (up to 20% but almost never that much). That is a pretty good deal.

Thieves will always find a way to steal, whether they put someone on the boats or not.

Once you meet Taffi Fisher, and Morgan and Bill Moore in the lab, genuinely decent and nice people, you would never think about "skimming" as you call it.

People have been caught and prosecuted and blackballed from ever subcontracting again.

You have to turn in artifacts and log sheets detailing your activities every 2 weeks.

 

[theGOLD]

Thats what I figured. I was curious because I had heard that breaches of the honor system were the reason that the Bahamas had put a moratorium on salvage int the Bahamas. I was trying to figure out if Florida had come up with a more fullproof system.
Went out and did some mag surveying today. Got some interesting anomolies to check out. Might do that tomorrow.


Thanks,

-theGOLD

 

[Salvor6]

Hey GOLD, the stolen stuff does not have provenance. A certificate from the Fishers that says it is genuine. Therefore it is more worthwile to turn it in and get the certificate so you can sell your share at a higher price.