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[Cultura is working with respected consultants to attempt to find a better more regulated way of
saving our lost patrimony. The days of splitting finds with commercial companies are a thing of the pas]
You see i actually agree with this statement, so how do you bring in companies to fund such a massive expenditure and hire qualified personnel? Who is going to pay for the expenses to run such an operation? There has to be incentive. I understand it is a very fine line. I am in the field, I do not sit behind a desk. I see what is happening daily. If these sites are to have anything worth the spending of major amounts of funds on, or to attract investors, it needs to happen like yesterday. The three fishermen who were at my house two days ago are taking me to there site tomorrow. Just curious if any on site or data is being collected like i am doing from the governments side. The day after tomorrow i will have pictures and coordinates of yet another historical site. What i will have tomorrow is a record of another shipwreck. Spending my own money and time to accumulate this info. No laws against diving that i am aware of. But then like the Playa Grande site I or we (being patromonio) will be able to reference these site as a -before and after- before meaning whats there now followed by the after, after the looting. With a boat and equipment and a experienced crew READY TO GO why wouldn't this government entertain the thought to have some special permission to at least save what is left on some of thee more significant sites (and three come to mind immediately). Bring on a qualified archaeologist, foot the bill and pay to have these sites excavated. I truly am sadden by whats taking place. And one day in the not so distant future i will be able to prove there was an action to be taken and it wasn't. Again there has to be incentive. No one is going to spend thirty thousand American dollars a month just to recover artifacts for the government, like just what happened to our company the last three years prior to the end of our contract. And what bad publicity that is as no one will entertain the thought coming here with that looming.
I also see a different perspective, Having a company like ours in one designated area you gain trust with the locals, as I have. I wish i had a dime for every time someone rang my door bell to ask me if i wanted to see a new wreck they recently discovered. How many years or decades does that save to learn about each and every wreck site? That info is invaluable. I have lived here long enough to know that trust is earned not jut handed to you.
So yes wait a few more years figuring this all out and nothing will be left to save. Its not like a hundred contracts need to be handed out. Just renew the few and keep them working until a better plan is put into place. And by all ethical standards companies like ours that was so dedicated so entrenched here sure should have been given a year or two warning that all work was going to come to a halt. At least we could have buried these sites we could have prepared ourselves for future project in other countries. The Dominican crew could have prepared their selves for returning to poverty. Nothing about how this ended was fair in the least bit. Other companies sued this government not ours. Because we hope one day to still be a part of recovering and saving not only the Dominicans heritage but the heritage of every nationality of this planet that had the unfortunate experience of losing a ship on this coast. Which should be another priority of this country to save the patrimony of other nations while there is still something worth saving, Just like the letter i posted earlier, an urgent request to stop the looting. Seven years ago and still it continues. How can the officials of this nation live with themselves knowing this is happening. Especially when there is a ship and crew who has many years experience just sitting at the dock. No man, no excuse in the world can justify this. ITs wrong, dead wrong.
