Page 398 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

Chapter 14: Cultural Resource Management 377
lesson of the involvement of amateurs in a constructive and rewarding program, members of this group may revise their strategy. However, in the long run, a pragmatic approach is to ensure that the third group does not recruit new members thus resulting in a continuation of their activities.
C. DIVING PUBLIC (LOCAL)
This is a complex group, although small in number it is likely that they have an enormous amount of knowledge. It is usually the case that the local diving people know of sites and they may or may not be willing to reveal their location. This again is complex and it is difficult to generalize. In some countries this group is poor and the income that can be made recovering this material or working with treasure hunters means they have an impor- tant financial resource at their disposal. Issues of national socioeconomics will depend on the counties concerned. In some places there will be strict enforcement of the law, in other cases little or none. The general objective is to influence this group where possible and redirect their activities by demonstrating the advantages of a different approach. The key issue is to show that having sites protected and implementing a positive program will result in real benefits to the region. Thus, if local public opinion can be persuaded to support preservation, this will put pressure on local divers to support the program.
As for the locals who are unwilling to reveal their knowledge of sites, the reasons for such attitudes are complex: they may be deriving financial benefit from the knowledge (selling artifacts); they may have a dislike of authority (the “dog-in-the-manger” attitude); or they may consider it to be “their” site, like a possession, of which they would lose “ownership” by revealing it. If this group could be involved as inspectors and local repre- sentatives reporting to the central administration, they could play an impor- tant community role and gain recognition from this.
D. COMMERCIAL SALVAGE—TREASURE-HUNTING DIVERS (AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL)
In many cases this is probably only a small group. Because this group often relies on public funding, it requires at least some form of legitimacy. The capital investment required for these types of operations makes it unlikely that they will operate in an area where they could be arrested and have their equipment confiscated. This group’s main impact is likely to be