Climate Change And Trawling Threaten Underwater Heritage

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Underwater cultural heritage sites are facing“catastrophic destruction” from various threats, including climate change and commercial activities such as deep-sea trawling and mining.

In 2011, the E/V Nautilus expedition discovered an ancient merchant ship dating back more than 2,000 years at the bottom of the Black Sea, west of Ereğli, Turkey. The vessel, which would otherwise have been well-preserved, sustained significant damage from bottom-trawling fishing boats repeatedly dragging their nets across the site. This activity damaged the ship's ancient amphorae and displaced hull timbers.

A recent study led by Rory Quinn of Ulster University, Northern Ireland, and his colleagues analyzed data from approximately 150,000 known shipwrecks and fishing vessel movements. Their findings, published in The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, identified which underwater heritage sites globally are most vulnerable to deep-sea mining and trawling. The team noted that while few shipwrecks are located in areas slated for the nascent deep-sea mineral mining industry, only 0.2% of wrecks worldwide are in fully protected zones where such activities are prohibited.

Alarmingly, 95% of shipwrecks are found in shallower, unprotected waters, making them susceptible to damage from bottom-trawling nets, whether the sites are known or undiscovered. While most trawling occurs away from identified wrecks, the risk remains. The researchers propose that the informal practice of fishing crews avoiding shipwrecks, which can damage their equipment, should be formalized as a legal requirement.

Underwater cultural heritage has historically suffered from weak legislative protection. The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage prohibits disturbing or damaging submerged heritage, but major nations, including China, the UK, and the US, have not ratified it. Some countries have enacted their own legislation, yet the high seas largely remain unprotected. Furthermore, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provides minimal mention of archaeology. Beyond fishing and mining, underwater sites also face threats from pollution, treasure hunting, and unregulated tourism, with some sites so covered in debris that surveying and monitoring them has become difficult.

Climate change poses an additional, escalating threat. Research by Luigi Germinario of the University of Padua, Italy, and colleagues, published in Communications Earth & Environment, examined the impact of increasing ocean acidity on ancient stone. They projected that rising carbon dioxide emissions could lead to an“exponential surge” in ocean acidity in coming decades, potentially dissolving irreplaceable ancient remains.

The team used a digital model of a marble sculpture from the sunken Roman city of Baiae to simulate the effects of different ocean acidity levels over 500 years. At pre-industrial acidity, the statue's surface was largely unaffected. However, at acidity levels predicted by the end of this century, the statue lost over 1mm of its surface, eroding fine details. Under the most extreme acidity tested, more than 1cm of surface vanished, leaving the statue severely eroded. Less durable stones, such as porous limestone, could experience“catastrophic erosion” over a century under these extreme conditions, a process that would otherwise take thousands of years.

The creation of detailed 3D records of marine heritage sites typically requires expensive, specialized, and often prototype equipment. However, this may be changing. Dennis Wilken of Kiel University, Germany, and his team developed a method for rapid, cost-effective, high-resolution 3D scanning of submerged features. Their test, detailed in the journal Archaeological Prospection, involved adapting existing research vessel equipment to scan two hectares of a partially buried Baltic wreck in just two hours. This innovation could significantly advance the discovery and monitoring of archaeological sites beneath the seafloor, offering crucial tools as underwater heritage faces an uncertain future.

We previously reported:

Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered what they believe may be the world's oldest known shipwreck, dating back approximately 4,500 years.

Source: The Art Newspaper

MENAFN21102026005694012507ID1111845760