Managing historic shipwrecks in the United States

Abstract

Abstract The Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987 resolves a number of issues that arose during the past two decades concerning state management of shipwrecks. The Act clarifies that states, not courts, have sovereign and managerial power over historic or embedded shipwrecks that rest in or on state submerged lands. It also removes any threat of preemption that federal admiralty had on state shipwreck management. The Act also creates a number of new issues concerning American shipwreck management. The Act will face constitutional challenge from those who argue that it infringes on exclusive federal admiralty jurisdiction. Another concern is whether states will effectively respond to their responsibility to resolve the value and use conflicts over shipwrecks in a manner that maximizes and serves the values and uses of shipwrecks. Finally, the recent extension of the American territorial sea requires that the federal government manage the conflicts over shipwrecks on new federal submerged lands. This article addresses these old and new issues concerning American shipwrecks and how they are resolved or ought to be resolved.