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WWII Shipwrecks in Thai Waters at Risk
- By Diver Magazine
- Published 05/1/2008
- Diver News Archives
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Marine archaeologist asks Thai government to crack down on scuba divers looting shipwrecks.
In a letter to Consul General Kosit Chatpaiboon, of the Royal Thai Consulate General in Vancouver, Canadian marine archaeologist Rob Rondeau asked that Thailand declare several archaeologically important shipwreck sites in the Gulf of Thailand off-limits to recreational divers. And he wants a charter boat company, based from the resort island of Koh Tao, investigated for looting and violating international maritime law.
"Technically, divers are stealing property that belongs to Japan. They certainly didn't ask that government, or Thailand's, for permission to dive, and take things from, it," Rondeau said in his letter to Chatpaiboon. Rondeau says he is also concerned about a report on the charter boat company's website that suggests the same vessel visited an unidentified WWII-era shipwreck (believed to also be Japanese) in Cambodian waters in March and that divers recoved artefacts. He has forwarded a copy of his letter to Cambodia's embassy in Washington DC.
Cambodia is a signatory member of the United Nation's UNESCO Convention of the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001). It calls for the in situ preservation of shipwrecks and prohibits their commercial exploitation.
Many scuba diving destinations have learned that every artifact removed by a diver is one less for the next to see. At Truk Lagoon, in Micronesia, scuba divers explore WWII Japanese shipwrecks. The site attracts thousands every year and is the mainstay of the local economy. Diving tourists caught with artifacts taken from Truk's shipwrecks receive substantial fines and risk going to jail.
Rondeau believes that Thailand should capitalize on the economic opportunity presented by the preservation of these underwater cultural resources: "Clearly, tourists from around the world will pay big money to dive Thailand's shipwrecks. The thing is to make sure that they don't destroy them!"
"Technically, divers are stealing property that belongs to Japan. They certainly didn't ask that government, or Thailand's, for permission to dive, and take things from, it," Rondeau said in his letter to Chatpaiboon. Rondeau says he is also concerned about a report on the charter boat company's website that suggests the same vessel visited an unidentified WWII-era shipwreck (believed to also be Japanese) in Cambodian waters in March and that divers recoved artefacts. He has forwarded a copy of his letter to Cambodia's embassy in Washington DC.
Cambodia is a signatory member of the United Nation's UNESCO Convention of the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001). It calls for the in situ preservation of shipwrecks and prohibits their commercial exploitation.
Many scuba diving destinations have learned that every artifact removed by a diver is one less for the next to see. At Truk Lagoon, in Micronesia, scuba divers explore WWII Japanese shipwrecks. The site attracts thousands every year and is the mainstay of the local economy. Diving tourists caught with artifacts taken from Truk's shipwrecks receive substantial fines and risk going to jail.
Rondeau believes that Thailand should capitalize on the economic opportunity presented by the preservation of these underwater cultural resources: "Clearly, tourists from around the world will pay big money to dive Thailand's shipwrecks. The thing is to make sure that they don't destroy them!"