Page 208 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

 © UNESCO. Management plan of the Mannok Shipwreck site in the Klaeng District, Rayong Province,Thailand.
This management plan was prepared during the first Foundation Training Course on Underwater Cultural Heritage in Asia-Pacific in December 2009. It combines general strategies and policies with specific goals that relate to the significance and setting of the Mannok shipwreck site.
plan that was part of the project then develops into a programme with long-term sustainability as its aim.
Site management programmes
A site management programme is a tool to structure long-term concern for a site. It should define the reason for concern and the purpose of engagement. Research and enjoyment by the public at large constitute the principal purposes. A management programme should then elaborate the way in which these purposes are best served while keeping the site authentic. Authenticity is best experienced in situ and it is one of the reasons why the UNESCO Convention and its Annex put emphasis on protection in situ. An authentic site is a joy forever, as a monument for those associating themselves with its history, or its environment, as well as for the local economics of recreational and touristic visits. It is also a joy for researchers, who inform other users, but who also may want to extend and critically assess common knowledge by means of excavation, a process that is both destructive and innovatively creative.
Active management cannot do without research, monitoring and protection. Usually, the three will be combined. Unless a site is threatened to the degree that full excavation is the only option, a site will usually be investigated several times over a longer period of time. Investigation and monitoring can then be combined with other forms of access.
When elaborating a management programme, many factors have to be taken into consideration,
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Conservation and site management