UNESCO...

[jeff k]

I just noticed Cuba ratified UNESCO. If you read the fine print you'll notice that it will only be enforceable in the countries that sign it.

http://portal.unesco.org/la/convention.asp?KO=13520&language=E&order=alpha

 

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[ivan salis]

then pray we never sign it --- note the only "large countries" that signed it was mexico and spain ( want some fun ? find a spanish shipwreck in mexican waters carrying looted inca items from mexico--- now who "owns it culture wize?"---let the blood bath begin) -- spain signed on in a attempt to gain leverage of the treasures she looted from others -- oh yeh protect the stuff we looted from others and lost in shipment back to spain from being recovered by other people unless we get it or a major chunk of it . --- LOL-- ( gotta laugh or cry at that one) --- Ivan

 

[jeff k]

The following was posted as a comment to a newspaper article (Independent, UK).

"Wrong way to save historic wrecks

Sir: It takes only the whiff of treasure being found ("Pirates of the Channel Islands", 12 June) for archaeological worthies to weigh in with their accusations of trampling over, and destruction of, the world's maritime cultural history. But their solution is precisely the wrong path to the protection of the heritage that speaks from these historic shipwrecks.

They demand that the British Government ratifies that monstrosity of bad regulation, the Unesco Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, a legal instrument so blunt, so incomprehensible to the layman, indiscriminate and draconian that its adoption will be a gift to the black market and a forensic honeypot for lawyers, and will place the maritime heritage in great peril.

Many governments have found its definition of underwater cultural heritage too ludicrous to stomach, including, as it does, "all traces of human existence having a cultural historical or archaeological character which have been partially or totally underwater periodically or continuously for at least 100 years (in due course, Johnny's skateboard and submerged sewer pipes).

The sensible partnerships forged with the private sector to ensure that land-based archaeological heritage is effectively protected are thrown out of the window when it comes to the maritime heritage. The money, archeological expertise and scholarly goodwill which the private sector could bring to the impoverished heritage are dismissed out of hand by an academic establishment seeking exclusive control but lacking the resources to tackle the task.

The convention was passed in 2001 with 87 signatories. Seven years later, only 17 countries have accepted or ratified it. The latest, Cuba, was preceded by such maritime entities as Bulgaria, Panama, Libya, Cambodia, Ukraine, Romania and Lebanon among others, and including only one major maritime nation, Spain, at present waging its own shipwreck treasure wars off Gibraltar and in the Atlantic.

Twenty ratifications are needed for the convention to have any force. The British Government would be wise to ignore calls to join. There are better ways of protecting our underwater cultural heritage.

Rex Cowan

Undersea Search and Location, London NW3"

 

[ScubaFinder]

Beautifully written, I think I'd like Rex if I ever got to meet him in person. "Monstrosity of bad regulation" sums UNESCO up pretty well, eh. Thanks Jeff...that was good reading heading into a similar situation with the state of Florida tomorrow.

Jason

 

[jeff k]

Jason... Here's a short bio for Rex Cowan.

A former lawyer, now wreck hunter, writer and broadcaster, whose work includes the award winning science film 'Chaos', Rex Cowan has spent most of the last 34 years discovering and excavating shipwrecks of the 17th. and 18th. century.

Among his teams' most substantial discoveries are the Hollandia, a Dutch East Indiaman sunk off the Isles of Scilly in 1743, and the T'Vliegent Hart, sunk in 1735 off Holland. He was for 22 years a member of HM Government's Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck. In 1993 the Queen of the Netherlands made him a Knight of the Order of Orange Nassau for his services to Dutch Underwater Maritime History. A special gallery in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam houses a substantial collection of his recoveries from several Dutch East Indiamen.

 

[ScubaFinder]

We American's could learn a lot from a few of our European brothers...some of the laws regarding shipwreck exploration over there are so eliquently written and well thought out that they should be used as a model for the rest of the world. I'll be looking further into some of Rex's accomplishments, thanks again Jeff.

Jason