[CPProt.net] Treasure hunters or predators of submerged heritage. International UNESCO Convention to safeguard the submerged world heritage should be ratified by all nations

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Treasure hunters or predators of submerged heritage

• Marine depths guard uncountable sunken ships that could shed light on
periods in human history, but these treasures are at the mercy of looters
and merchants •  International UNESCO Convention to safeguard the submerged
world heritage should be ratified by all nations 

BY MIGUEL ANGEL ALVAREZ —Special for Granma International 

JACQUES-Yves Cousteau, inventor of the aqualung, commanded the first
submarine exploration using modern means in 1952 near Marseilles, in the
Mediterranean. The team recovered Greek and Roman urns that had been
submerged for many centuries leaving specialists perplexed. In his book The
World of Silence, the French scientist admitted that at one point he was
enchanted by the prospect of finding sunken galleons and pirate treasures.
But in the end, his eyes opened to the infinite horizons engulfed in the
marine depths beyond the chests full of coins and jewels.

According to some experts, the ocean depths conceal nearly three million
still undiscovered sites that remain intact, almost perfectly conserved.

The number of known remains is impressive. The Northern Shipwrecks Database
has registered, from 1500 to the present, 65,000 ships in North America
alone, while the Dictionary of Disasters at Sea by Charles Hocking (1969)
lists a repertoire of 12,542 sailboats and warships lost over one and a half
centuries, from 1824 to 1962.

Because in the distant past naval technology was little developed,
commercial ships that hugged the coasts were exposed to the dangers of
shallow waters, reefs, and storms. The coasts of many European countries,
the Mediterranean and Asia Minor are infested with fabulous shipwrecks.
Other interesting points are the submerged sites of Port Royal in Jamaica
and the Neolithic villages under the North Sea.    

With the discovery and colonization of the American continent, the
interminable voyages of fleets carrying riches extracted from the colonies
contributed its quota of ships sunken by storms, accidents, pirate attacks,
and other events.

With the invention of the aqualung and other devices, and the improvement of
immersion technology, sub-aquatic archeology has emerged as a science and
its discoveries have filled museum halls, display cases and educational
centers revealing previously unknown historic details of humankind and its
struggle for dominance over the sea. But it has also unleashed the greed of
unscrupulous adventurers, for whom the rapid enrichment at any price is all
that matters.

International expert Marc-André Bernier, technician for the Canadian
National Parks Service and director of numerous sub-aquatic archeology
projects, commented that “the illegal extraction of sunken ship treasures is
threatening scientific investigation and seriously damaging the national
heritage,” given that not all explorers take adequate safety and
conservation measures, which leads to real disasters. 

Such individuals, pushed for time and by the high cost of submarine
excavation work and faced with the possibility of having to respond to the
law, are causing incalculable damage to archeological sites; sometimes even
using dynamite. Generally they extract the sellable items and destroy the
rest. These objects, not cataloged or registered, are dispersed in private
collections around the world. 

Recently this activity has engendered a small industry, especially in the
United States, where aficionado clubs and stores with modern accessories
from metal detectors to sub-aquatic cameras and distance locators etc.
abound.

Many governments offer awards and prizes that can reach up to $30,000 for
the discovery of a sunken ship, a figure sometimes impossible to pay due to
complicated bureaucratic procedures. But hunters are not attracted by such
offers, given that just one Grecian or Roman urn can fetch $1,500 on the
illegal market.

This new gold rush is leading to the destruction of entire chapters of human
history. "The logic of profit rather than the will to increase our knowledge
of history is what drives the treasure hunters," explained Mounir
Bouchenaki, general deputy director of Culture for UNESCO.

For John de Bry, a Florida archeologist, "this is no more than a modern form
of piracy.” The biggest losers are the nations watching their heritage
disappear. 

UNESCO CONVENTION 

The world-wide preoccupation to protect the submarine heritage within
national boundaries is increasing. But there is no global legal jurisdiction
for treasure in these waters and far less so for those in international
waters, like the Titanic, within the reach of anyone who wants to loot it. 

Some 350 experts from more than 90 countries worked four years to finalize
the Sub-Aquatic Cultural Heritage Protection Convention, which was ready in
2001 and has just been approved by the UNESCO General Assembly in October
2005. 

This mechanism calls on the signatory countries to apply restrictions and
sanctions to the activities of treasure hunters in an effort to protect the
sub-marine heritage and impede illegal trafficking and possession. The
Convention goes into effect when it has been ratified by 20 states.

Panama was the first nation to sign in May 2003, followed by Bulgaria in
October of the same year, Croatia in December 2004, Spain last July 6, and
then Libya, according to UNESCO.

This matter covers many legal areas and has caused much controversy. For
example, Spain has voiced concerns about property rights and is claiming its
rights over all the sunken ships of its ancient Golden Fleet, while
examining in detail all the laws pertaining to this issue. 

But meanwhile, time is passing. With great fanfare, the new pirates, some
even with websites, boast of the profits, in many cases in the order of
millions of dollars, obtained from their excavations. Even firms
specializing in auctions such as Christie’s admit to having made fabulous
profits from the sale of so-called "material recovered legally or under
license originating from historic remains." Although recently, Christie’s
has become a bit more cautious in view of the controversies and legal
difficulties that these operations are provoking.

Koichiro Maatsuura, UNESCO general director, has called on the countries of
the world to support the Convention rapidly, so that this “especially
vulnerable cultural heritage” can be safeguarded.

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