Underwater Archaeology in Colombia: Between Commercial Salvage and Science

Preserving Sunken Military Vessels as Underwater Cultural Heritage in Colombia: Legal Challenges and Prospects for the USS Kearsarge Wreck Site

“…Despite being the most prominent international legal instrument in this domain, the UNESCO Convention has not gained widespread recognition, with only 72 countries having ratified it to date [37]. Additionally, certain countries such as Colombia, despite being signatories, are yet to ratify it, while the United States is not a signatory at all [9,35]. The limited acceptance and implementation of the Convention globally add to the challenges in protecting sunken warships, especially within the territorial waters of other nations.…”

“…Law 1675 of 2013 represents Colombia's efforts to safeguard its underwater cultural heritage. However, this law has significant implications that negatively affect UCH, as it allows commercial salvage in alliance with the government [9]. Despite this, one notable provision of Law 1675 is the adoption of a 100-year limitation period for permanently submerged shipwrecks, in line with the criteria set forth by the 2001 UNESCO Convention [36].…”

“…Despite the extensive legal framework in Colombia for the protection of cultural heritage, the law governing UCH has faced criticism. While the legislation provides guidelines for the identification, management, and preservation of UCH sites, some experts consider its protection inadequate [9]. The law allows commercial salvage under a process of public association, which permits private entities to recover historical shipwrecks and artifacts by paying 50% of the recovered elements or artifacts that are not recognized as heritage by the government [3][4][5].…”

“…The case of the Spanish galleon San Jose, which sank near Cartagena de Indias in 1708 following a battle with the British fleet [6,7], is particularly contentious. The official discovery of the San Jose by the Colombian government in 2015 [8] has sparked controversy regarding its possible commercial salvage by a public-private association, which adds to the legal dispute between the Colombian government and an American salvage company that claims to have found the remains in 1982 [9]. Furthermore, Colombia solely regulates the management of its underwater heritage through domestic law, as it is not a party to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) [10].…”

“…Furthermore, Colombia solely regulates the management of its underwater heritage through domestic law, as it is not a party to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) [10]. Although several recent studies have focused primarily on the legal case of the San Jose as a sunken military vessel and criticized the Submerged Cultural Heritage Law of 2013 [2,3,9,[11][12][13][14][15], there is a literary gap in the management of sunken military vessels from other countries in Colombia.…”