Countering

A Fight Yet To Be Waged
is a crucial stake. It stands to reason that the same individuals involved in previous
lootings should continue their illicit activity. Thus will the situation remain, until it is
decided that theft and the destruction of maritime cultural objects are to be sanctioned
more severely. Justice, in France, seems to have taken this in, since underwater looting
is now prosecuted as are theft or property damage. The Montpellier Court of Justice
has sentenced shipwreck looters to prison. The case is currently under appeal but it is a
cornerstone that shows, surely, that authorities understand better the consequences of
such criminal acts – the irreversible destruction of our common heritage.
Much work is still needed, for it appears that judges are, by and large, hardly aware
of the impact of the destruction of archeological sites, i.e. prejudice in the form of
disappearance of historical traces. Because of this lack of understanding, judges are
likely to leave it unpunished. Unique remnants of our past have been callously destroyed
by predators – resulting in the irretrievable loss of site integrity – only to keep artifacts
whose pristine condition guarantees a quick sale on the market. The only criteria
jurisdictions retain, however, is the mercantile value of the object instead of the scientific
worth of the sites destroyed. Moral prejudice would have, in fact a much higher value. It
is adamant that mentalities change and that the extent of the moral prejudice provoked
hence be taken into account by judges, once and for all.
Looting hot spots
Underwater heritage is at risk throughout the world. Keenly attuned as they are with
the environment they revolve around, looters, however, typically operate within specific
areas. Their primary targets are countries with limited protection: absent or insufficient
legislation, few coastguards (if any), low income or poverty – fertile ground for corruption
as local authorities may easily be bought to turn a blind eye or even collaborate. Some
countries in the Caribbean (Haiti, Santo Domingo, etc.) or Indian Ocean regions
(Madagascar, Mozambique, etc.) are often rampaged by traffickers and uncivil divers
from Europe, the United States, Australia, South Africa, and increasingly, Asia, and
China in particular. While the sale of stolen objects remains discrete an activity, Internet
is becoming the main platform whereby illegally removed objects are sold, e.g. an 18 th
century French 74-gunship of the line Scipion that was nearby Saint-Domingue, or
bronze Portuguese canons stolen from an underwater archeological site in Madagascar.
Experts are enclined to think that this is the location of the vestiges of the San Ildefonso,
sunk on the Star Bank in 1527. Few are the solutions available, since international law
enforcement forces have insufficient investigative capacity, with most of their agents
assigned to cases of theft concerning more usual and easily identifiable movable cultural
property such as objects stolen from places of worship, museums, castles, etc.
When heritage becomes Mafia interest
Underwater cultural heritage is less visible, and is therefore less the object of attention.
It remains unlisted in INTERPOL or local enforcement authority databases, and is
seldom searched for during routine controls. Things will only change when training in
underwater heritage identification is provided to police staff. In addition, underwater
archeology specialists are too few to train new recruits. This situation clearly explains
why stolen treasures are still found on the market nowadays, world renowned auction
houses still sell 3 rd century BC coins from the Roman treasure of Lava – although it is
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