Posted by Melvin on August 16, 2002 at 22:37:37:
In Reply to: Re: Plunder and Pillage posted by Steve on August 16, 2002 at 16:03:53:
I am not in a real hurry to see legal protection, as the government has a knack of messing up most things and going too far one way or the other.
But I can, in my own small way contribute by not taking artifacts. Every great movement starts with the decision to act by one person. We can each choose to be that person.
As one person said,loose stuff like gold dabloons or plates, ok, perhaps you could take that - although seeing that stuff in the wreck would be neat. But leave the crowbar at home and the stuff that is nailed down on the wreck. If you do, then perhaps the next guy will too. If we, as a diving community, adopt the postion of leaving it for the next diver to enjoy, then it will become socially unacceptable to pillage the wreck. Then perhaps, just maybe, clubs like Wreck Divers, which could be the leader of the charge, would become the leaders touting the merits of leave it for the next diver to enjoy, look, but don't touch, unless its a bug in season,and leagle length. They could become the conservatist of wreck diving, which I actually assumed would have been their position when I first heard of the group, especially when they were not publishing the sites GPS. I assumed this was because the club wanted to preserve the wrecks. But it appears I was wrong on that score.