Page 420 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

Chapter 16
Legislation
The question of legislation in relation to maritime archaeology is a complex issue. In most countries, land archaeological sites are protected by some form of legislation. Unfortunately many countries choose not to afford underwater archaeological sites the same level of protection. The debate is complex. There are those who want sites protected and others who, for various reason, want them left unprotected. There are divisions between the interested parties on both sides. An underwater archaeologist will argue that all sites should be protected. The sport diver may argue that protective legislation could prevent the acquisition of artifacts from sites, or possibly restrict reasonable recreational access to sites. The more pecuniary minded would see such legislation as preventing the com- mercial exploitation of sites. Even government departments may have vested interests in legislation. In some countries substantial sums of money are realized through legal agreements with commercial organizations over the disposition and sale of archaeological artifacts from wreck sites within their territorial waters. Many museums acquire material from the treasure hunter seeing this as the only way to acquire this type of material.
If legislation reflects the wishes of society, then it is quite clear that in some countries the society does not wish to have protective legislation for maritime archaeological sites. The various ways that countries have enacted maritime archaeological legislation has been thoroughly discussed by Prott and O’Keefe (1981, 1984) and Roper (1978). Readers are referred to these texts for information, together with a review of international legislation relating to maritime archaeology (Brown, 1996; Carducci, 2002; Dromgoole, 1999; Fletcher-Tomenius and Williams, 1999; O’Keefe, 2002; Prott and
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