Historic Scotland has published its Operational Policy Paper on Conserving the Underwater Heritage. The paper sets out Historic Scotland's aims and the policies it will pursue to achieve them, using the powers contained in the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 and the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
      Historic Scotland will aim to afford the underwater heritage no less careful consideration than its terrestrial equivalent. This means it must aim to develop a protection regime which is effective in securing the long-term future of the most important underwater sites, including securing them against inadvertent or deliberate damage or destruction; pursue the beneficial management of key underwater sites which are under threat of degradation or complete loss; pursue a regime where archaeological or architectural data is recovered when sites cannot be saved and encourage the publication of information about all of these activities, and where appropriate publish such material at its own hand.
      Copies of the Operational Policy Paper can be obtained from Ancient Monuments Administration Branch, Historic Scotland, Room G.49, Longmore House, Edinburgh EH9 1SH. E-mail requests can be sent to Duncan.McKendrick@scotland.gov.uk

Source: Britarch Mailing List (19 January, 2000)