Posted by Garry Kozak on December 15, 1999 at 22:03:10:
Ref: BILL13 & Wreck Access
I have been following with interest at http://www.listbot.com/cgi-bin/subscriber?Act=view_archive&list_id=doppler and http://www.baillod.com/wwwboard.html the on-going soap opera concerning Ontario’s Bill 13 and shipwreck access. On one hand it is comical, but on the other, it is very disturbing to see the very real possibility that some clever special interest groups may succeed in restricting (at least on paper) one of the most important rights of a democracy – FREEDOM. They place more value on the misguided view that an old rotting hull lying on the lake floor is more valuable and important for mankind than the basic right of FREEDOM. It is true that some shipwrecks are historically significant, and that these should be protected for all mankind. However if this protection means complete denial of access by the general public, what’s the point, you are restricting to the very public you claim to be protecting these for. Few of these historically important types of wrecks lay on the bottom of the Great Lakes. Most shipwrecks in the Great Lakes are less than 200 years old, which is not old by shipwreck standards, and their construction and history details are for the most part well documented. Just visit a library sometime and see the wealth of documentation available on Great Lakes ship construction and history. Nothing truly revolutionary to be discovered or learned here from most of the wrecks. I have been involved with shipwrecks for over 38 years and have watched as various legislation has been passed for the protection of wrecks. I have observed these special interest groups who lobby to get these laws passed and I recognized early that they were really not as concerned with the protection and making accessible (usually the opposite) of these site’s for the general public, as they were with meeting the goals of their own special hidden agenda’s. What kind of agenda’s? For Provincial or State archaeology and historical agencies it means more justification for their being, it means more funding to expand their little government kingdom, but even more it gives those people in these positions more power. They thrive on power, just sit back and observe them sometime. With power comes the potential for abuse. I have seen one case where a local diver made a bad judgement call and took home a small "goodie" from a local wreck, and ended up in jail with a huge fine. The local drug dealer received far less for peddling drugs than the diver. The divers personal home life and job was nearly destroyed because of the excessive action taken to quote "make him an example". All this for what was no more than a piece of junk. Where was the logic for the penalty to match the size of the crime. The securing of provincial or state funds grants for non-profit organizations such as S.O.S. to pursue their own pet projects. This gives these few select members a Carte Blanche license to secure a wreck site via licensing for their own personal use under the guise of archeology/preservation. The irony is they get the thrills of diving and exploring these wreck sites and the costs for their personal enjoyment and satisfaction doing this are paid by YOUR TAX DOLLAR, from these grants. What a scam, convince everybody that you are pure and doing this for the good of mankind, get your way paid doing it and with an exclusive license that restricts the every day Joe (Jane to)(who by the way PAYS his/her own way) from enjoying the same things. WHATS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE.
The divers who will be affected most will be the general hobby diver who wants to book a charter to a known wreck dive site. It will affect those diving charter business’s who rely on access to these wreck sites to make their living. It will restrict and limit those individuals who now document these shipwrecks on film and video to share the adventures with the general public at film festivals and local TV documentaries. The general public will be the losers here. Policing will only work for the wreck sites that are already known. These laws will have little effect on those passionate dedicated shipwreck hunters who have zero interest in known wrecks and who are only driven to find another "virgin" and to solve another Great Lakes mystery . There is no way there will ever be enough funding for policing all areas of the Great Lakes to stop these dedicated few from pursuing what they love to do. This type of law only alienates more, the dedicated wreck hunters, and these are the ones who are responsible for most of the new and significant wreck finds. Today’s technology used by the dedicated shipwreck hunter makes policing a minor concern. Equipped with side scan sonar’s we search the lake bottoms for new wrecks, differential GPS with electronic charting keeps track of precisely where we are, interfaced to auto-pilots the boat runs survey track lines and grids completely hands -off, and the best part is, that the on board radar is programmed with a intruder alarm zone of any incoming vessel from more than 10 nautical mile radius to warn of an approaching craft long before it is visible by eye on the horizon. Technology has given those dedicated wreck hunters the edge over any legislation that is passed into law. The quest for new undiscovered wrecks will go on, only now they will be kept far more secret than ever in the past. WHO WILL REALLY BE THE LOSER HERE. Not us dedicated wreck hunters.
For those divers who live and dive in Ontario waters, I only hope you recognize truly what it is in the Pandora’s box that is about to be opened. There will be no going back once it is done. Funny how that works.
Garry Kozak 12/15/99