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From: reckraper
Category: Shipwreck Research
Date: 22 Nov 2004
Time: 01:20:31
Remote Name: 66.128.22.114
It continues to amaze me that NOAA is willing to pour money into Great Lakes shipwrecks at a time when interest in Great Lakes diving and maritime history is radically declining. Given the deterioration due to zebra mussels and the dwindling dive tourism industry, one has to wonder what the motive is for expanding the Thunder Bay sanctuary. Their stated motives seem noble enough. They want to promote interest in Great Lakes wreck diving and maritime history. Who can argue with that?
My problem is the elitists attitude, the political agenda and the disregard for other groups. I do not get the sense that NOAA intends to work with existing Great Lakes institutions or people. When they wanted to survey the sanctuary for new wrecks, they didn't pursue any local talent, even though there is plenty of professional remote detection talent on the Lakes. They paid exponentially more to bring in an outsider (Ballard) solely for publicity value. Now they are talking about building a national historical shipwreck database. Not only are they (Washington) unaware of all the historical research done by David Swayze and others, but they plan to re-do research that took David and others a lifetime. Worse yet, they will pay people to do the research and will likely claim to have created something new and superior. The Ballard search, the national shipwreck database and the unauthorized expansion of the preserve are all examples of NOAA's elitist disregard for local opinion, regional organizations and expertise, and avocationalists who've spent a lifetime researching Great Lakes shipwrecks. The only effort they made to have a liason with the Great Lakes shipwreck community was bringing Labadie on board, and that seemed politically motivated at best. If Labadie wasn't on staff, they'd never have any contact with other Great Lakes shipwreck organizations.
Until the Thunder Bay folks make a serious effort to become part of the existing Great Lakes shipwreck community instead of trying to dominate and control it, they will be viewed with suspicion and will have more opposition than cooperation.