Page 34 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

 © Commonwealth of Australia. Campaign to raise awareness
of the looting of shipwrecks initiated by the Heritage and Wildlife Division of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Australia.
The heritage values of historic shipwrecks are very susceptible to damage from looting. Australia protects its historic shipwrecks and their relics that are older than 75 years or shipwrecks that have been specifically declared
as historic through the Australian Government’s Historic Shipwrecks Act (1976). Approximately 8,000 shipwreck sites are protected by the legislation.
To compliment the legislative protection the department undertakes a program of
works aimed at researching, documenting, conserving and compliance activity to enforce the protection of Australia’s historic shipwreck heritage.
The department also works to educate and inform the public about protecting Australia’s historic shipwrecks.
On a national level, many countries have actively protected shipwrecks for many years and put in place measures to stop
the looting of archaeological
sites and to curtail trade in antiquities acquired through looting. Although legislation has been directed toward combating the looting of underwater cultural heritage sites, certainly one of
the most important measures is to change public opinion through effective education.
In the absence of the 2001 Convention, looting and commercial exploitation of underwater sites was stimulated rather than discouraged. In taking advantage of the freedom of the high seas and the deficiency of legal protection of submerged heritage, commercial ope- rators and their auction houses have claimed that exploiting underwater sites was perfectly legal and ethical. Rule 2 is therefore very clear that underwater
cultural heritage shall not be traded, sold, bought or bartered as commercial goods. It addresses both the seller and the buyer, and, for good reason, it explicitly mentions barter. Operators using archaeological sites to collect objects have a tendency to approach museums, officials and politicians with gifts and other bribes in order to ease their operation. Any such barter is definitely prohibited by Rule 2.
Professional services, and
authorized deposition
Rule 2 is clear on the fundamental principle that commercial exploitation for trade or speculation is incompatible with protection and proper ma- nagement of heritage. This is not to say that heritage management and activities that are deployed in the context of protection and proper management cannot be subject to business principles, nor does it mean that all transfer of ownership would be unacceptable. Paragraph a) affirms that interventions can be paid for, without being considered commercial exploitation under the Convention or its ANNEX, and Paragraph b) bears out that artefacts can be transferred without being bartered.
Professional archaeology
Paragraph a) addresses professional archaeological services and other services that are incidental to
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General Principles