The whole of the geographical region dealt with in this paper is faced with the challenge of dealing with treasure hunting and the exploitation of underwater cultural heritage for financial gain. While maritime archaeological projects in the region have been limited, there is a need to encourage countries to understand and protect their cultural heritage. This can only be done through archaeological work, as there can be no real benefit from working for commercial salvage. The paper will discuss the relative merits of archaeological investigations of shipwrecks in the region compared with that of commercial salvage.
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