Page 395 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

374 Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook, Second Edition
Once sites have been located, they need to be appropriately managed. Indeed, the management needs to be clearly defined before the sites are found (see Section VII.C). The management plan should address all of the issues related to the long-term objectives of underwater cultural heritage management. This is still related to the identification of the resource, because individual sites will present different resource potentials.
This process should relate to the management plan, with precise stages, objectives, and reporting structures. With this type of situation long-term planning will be required and may only be possible in certain circumstances. For example, a three-year plan could be developed with a clear objective stating that by the end of three years, the methods of management should be defined, understood, andappropriately managed.
Assuming that about 30 m is the normal maximum, practical (low-cost) archaeological working depth for conventional scuba equipment, and that one ignores sites at extreme depths (deeper than 200m), archaeological sites of interest can be divided into three basic categories:
1. Shallow-water wrecks, i.e., up to 30 m
2. Medium-depth sites, i.e., between 30 and 60m, in the workable, but
high-cost, range
3. Deep-water wrecks, i.e., in depths beyond 60m, where remotely
operated vehicles (ROV) and unconventional or commercial diving technology would be required
It is assumed, if the area is populated, that visible shallow-water sites are all going to be known and probably dived on by local people. In most areas there will be a history of local diving, an active fishing industry, and access to scuba equipment. The medium-depth sites present the greatest potential because they are more difficult to find and will be better preserved. However, being more difficult to find means they are less likely to be looted, but it also makes the chance of their discovery more remote. The deeper water sites will probably be known through bottom trawling, although they are even less likely to have been exploited.
It is important to remember that most sites that have been heavily looted are still likely to contain a large quantity of archaeological information to be extracted, but archaeological expertise will be required to access and exploit the information.
VI. IDENTIFICATION OF THE INTEREST GROUPS
There will be a wide variety of interest or stakeholder groups who are either of direct or indirect relevance to CRM program. It is important to