Potentially Polluting Wrecks and the Legal Duty to Protect Our Ocean Heritage

As said in the introduction to this book, the determination of a shipwreck as environmentally hazardous or potentially polluting does not negate its significance as a historic site (Brennan, Chap. 1 , this volume). Practice shows how wrecks may be different things at the same time: a lost property, an artificial reef, a gravesite, an obstacle for navigation, or/and a historic site and a potentially polluting wreck. This makes them a complex object for regulation, both at the domestic and international level.