Page 50 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

© National Museum of Underwater Archaeology. ARQUA.The ARQUA Museum is the main institution responsible for the study, evaluation, research, conservation, promotion and protection of Spain's underwater cultural heritage.
and archaeological information can only be ensured if it is regulated.
Sharing as a principle
Rule 7 and Rule 8 postulate sharing as a general principle. Exclusiveness in matters relating to cultural heritage is just not acceptable in the present time, even if perhaps at one time in history it was. Heritage is protected for its general and public interest, and not in order to please its discoverer, its owner or one exclusive stakeholder. The consequences of this principle are far-reaching, implying that rulings that attend to maritime salvage are not appropriate for shipwrecks to which the 2001 Convention applies. Salvage rulings deal with private interests exclusively, resulting in secrecy and exclusive access to information. This stands in contrast to the principle of sharing and public interest that dominates heritage protection and management. Thereby private interests are not necessarily curtailed, but they are made subsidiary to the significance of the heritage in question. The 2001 Convention does not interfere with private property rights. The Rules that govern activities directed at underwater cultural heritage do, however, imply that any activities directed at underwater cultural
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General Principles