Innovative Approaches to Marine Heritage Management
a view from across the divide
Our Role
• Statutory advisor for heritage in England
And to:• increase the
understanding of the past• broaden access and
appreciation of the heritage
• conserve and enhance the historic environment
National Heritage Act 2002
• Territorial Sea• Internal Waters
– adjacent to England
• Advice given for CS and relevant sites overseas
UK Hydrographic Office
‘Blue Water’ strategies
• Eighteenth Century foreign policy to avoid Continental involvement
• Trade was the lifeblood of the nation and it was in overseas trade and overseas colonies that the future of Britain lay
• The Navy should therefore be used to defend merchant shipping
www.queens.cam.ac.uk
National Monuments Record
• Wrecks and casualties within the 12 mile limit with a cut off date of 1945
• Recently expanded to included aircraft casualties
• 32,777 identified wrecks and recorded casualties
www.heritagegateway.org.uk
“It sometimes occurs to me that the British have more heritage than is good for them.”
Bill Bryson
Designation
• Protection of Wrecks Act 1973– 61 wreck sites designated in UK
• Designated on account of theirimportance being:– Historical– Archaeological– Artistic
• Vulnerability considered during assessment
Case-Study: Iona II
• Launched 1863 as a Saloon Steamer• Purchased 1864 to run the American Blockade by
Charles Hopkins Boster of Richmond, Virginia• Lost in 1864 en route
to Nassau• Discovered in 1976
Paddle-wheel and Shaft, Wessex Archaeology
2007 White Paper
• Unified Register• Broaden range of assets that
can be protected• Decisions based on ‘Special
Interest’• Interim Protection• Duty on Receiver of Wreck
HP Reform Team
• Prepare Detailed Asset Descriptions – DADs
• Address Strategic Designation– Submarines– East India Company ships
The loss of the Rooswijk, www.dagjeweg.nl
Unified Register
• Unified Register of all Heritage Assets• Creation of Marine Heritage Sites• Protection of non-vessel archaeology
DO17, Goodwin Sands, off Kent
Special Interest
• Future designation decisions based upon assessment of ‘special interest’
• Detailed Principles of Selection will define what is ‘special’ in the marine environment
• Can a vessel be a Special Building?• What is a vessel?
London, historic warship, Thames Estuary
Interim Protection
• All designation decisions will be preceded by consultation
• Protection for Asset during Consultation
Marine Protected Areas
• Any area of intertidal or sub-tidal terrain, together with its overlying water and associated flora or fauna, historical or cultural features, which is protected by legal or other effective means.
• We seek to examine the relationship between MPAs & the historic environment.
1707 warship lying within a Marine Park, SW England
National Policy
• In 2005, the UK Govt announced its adoption of the Annex to the 2001 UNESCO Convention as ‘best practice’ for archaeology.
2008 Heritage at Risk
• Framework to assess the state of all designated historic assets and to understand their:– Condition– Vulnerability– Current management patterns
• Maintain significance for both present
and future generations
Identified Threats
• Inshore Fisheries– Fishing– Potting– Bait digging
• Natural Processes– Biological Decay– Erosion
• Socio-economic Activity– Recreation– Development
Hampshire & Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology
Conservation Management
• Identify a shared vision of how values & features can be conserved, maintained and enhanced
• Seeks to balance protection with
economic and social needs
• Local and regional involvement
2008 Reduction of Risk
• Remedial Recording
and Stabilisation
CISMAS
Summary Principles
• Changes to the way in which our marine heritage is enjoyed, understood, valued and cared for is in progress.
• Public engagement will be at the heart of these changes.
www.english-heritage.org.uk
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