The following was posted as a comment to a newspaper article (Independent, UK).
"Wrong way to save historic wrecks
Sir: It takes only the whiff of treasure being found ("Pirates of the Channel Islands", 12 June) for archaeological worthies to weigh in with their accusations of trampling over, and destruction of, the world's maritime cultural history. But their solution is precisely the wrong path to the protection of the heritage that speaks from these historic shipwrecks.
They demand that the British Government ratifies that monstrosity of bad regulation, the Unesco Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, a legal instrument so blunt, so incomprehensible to the layman, indiscriminate and draconian that its adoption will be a gift to the black market and a forensic honeypot for lawyers, and will place the maritime heritage in great peril.
Many governments have found its definition of underwater cultural heritage too ludicrous to stomach, including, as it does, "all traces of human existence having a cultural historical or archaeological character which have been partially or totally underwater periodically or continuously for at least 100 years (in due course, Johnny's skateboard and submerged sewer pipes).
The sensible partnerships forged with the private sector to ensure that land-based archaeological heritage is effectively protected are thrown out of the window when it comes to the maritime heritage. The money, archeological expertise and scholarly goodwill which the private sector could bring to the impoverished heritage are dismissed out of hand by an academic establishment seeking exclusive control but lacking the resources to tackle the task.
The convention was passed in 2001 with 87 signatories. Seven years later, only 17 countries have accepted or ratified it. The latest, Cuba, was preceded by such maritime entities as Bulgaria, Panama, Libya, Cambodia, Ukraine, Romania and Lebanon among others, and including only one major maritime nation, Spain, at present waging its own shipwreck treasure wars off Gibraltar and in the Atlantic.
Twenty ratifications are needed for the convention to have any force. The British Government would be wise to ignore calls to join. There are better ways of protecting our underwater cultural heritage.
Rex Cowan
Undersea Search and Location, London NW3"
