Preservation, ownership, and access: Key issues for new federal underwater cultural heritage legislation beyond state waters

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the Abandoned Shipwreck Act (ASA) and other current federal legislation dealing with underwater cultural heritage (UCH) regarding questions of preservation, access, and ownership. The ASA is now twenty years old. While exact numbers are unknown, over 50,000 shipwrecks are estimated to be located in U.S. waters. Preservationists estimate that perhaps 5-10 percent of the wrecks, or 2500-5000, could be considered to be "historically significant." A number of user groups are interested in maintaining access to sunken shipwrecks because of their recreational, historic, and potential commercial values, including sport divers, nautical archaeologists, commercial treasure salvors, and fishermen. The conflict between nautical archaeologists and treasure salvors is at the heart of the question over shipwreck preservation, access, and ownership.;This dissertation also looks at various ideas for expanding federal governmental control over UCH beyond state waters. Additionally, it summarizes and comments on present and proposed international agreements affecting UCH, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. It also outlines concepts that could be used to develop new regulatory policies.;The research component of this study included opinion surveys of two groups of UCH professionals: (1) Current experts, including government UCH managers, archaeologists, maritime law attorneys, sport diving agency representatives, and private commercial interests involved with salvage of shipwrecks, and (2) The "next generation" of UCH managers, the graduates of Texas A&M University's and East Carolina University's graduate programs in nautical archaeology. These two groups were surveyed on their opinions regarding the ASA, sport diver access to shipwrecks, treasure salvage, pending international conventions, and ideas for expanding U.S. control over UCH in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The goal of this dissertation is to generate increased discussion of these issues and suggest new legislative proposals for improving historic shipwreck management.