Alexandre, I have a question: What is a shipwreck, or what is just some wreckage that could be recycled.
Recycled because it is harmful to the environment, the fish and other sea life and through the food chain finally harmful to people.
Examples, mercury, lead, copper etc.
Or recycled for art and decoration, like brass ship nails, copper sheeting, worm eaten timber.
A specific example:
Along the Gulf Stream, on the edge of the Bahama Banks, thousands of ships got wrecked. At South Riding Rocks, there is a ballast pile on the west side of the rock.
There is the bottom of a 1900's large ship on the East side of the rock. Fairly new timbers, oak, 3-4 inch planking. 10 inch brass, square nails. Really fantastic stuff to recycle and make into decorative art.
Then, also on the east side, old copper pins scattered over acres of sea bottom. Obviously the remains of an old shipwreck.
Scattered over the whole area, iron rigging, pins and nails from different shipwrecks.
Digging in the sand one finds nails and pins attached to pieces of burned wood, showing that the wreckers of old burned the shipwrecks to recycle whatever metals they could save.
Then there was a trail of lead ingots about 3-4 pounds each, starting at the South end of the rock and continuing, I don't know how far to the East. I suspect it to be ballast from a more modern boat or Yacht. I picked up 104 of them, that was all I could carry.
Lead is very harmful to all creatures and should always be removed, recycled!!!!!!
There are no anchors or cannon anywhere nearby.
There are hundreds of similar sites all along the Bahama Banks.
Should these areas or sites be considered as shipwrecks?
Should these sites be cleaned up of harmful debris?
Should these sites be free for all?
