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Changes In Marine Salvage Laws You Need To Know

With global pollution reaching its peak, necessary changes to the implementation of marine salvage laws have become inevitable in the face of unscrupulous means and ways of collecting and retrieving marine salvage.

In this particular industry, buoyancy and inflatable tunnel pipe plugs as well as tank bladders are used. If you’re unmindful of the law, scooping something off the ocean floor could leave you facing a fine of up to 50,000 pounds in the UK. Till recent times, divers were able to access and recover priceless artefacts from the sea floor, then report the findings to the person who is receiving the shipwreck, and also give markers to close by the wreck that went off the radar and remained unreported.

The new laws state that the diver adhere to these; if the object in question has been under the water surface for more than twelve months, or is above one hundred kilos in weight, you need to swim back to the surface and also make a record of the precise location without the help of a buoy or a shot line. After this comes the process of applying for a license and it starts at one hundred and fifty pounds. The license is supposed to arrive shortly and then you’re under the protection of the law while you go down to retrieve the object. Underwater lift bags suppliers have also woken up to these changes and are making suitable amendments to their lift bags.

If you use an underwater shot marker lines to make sure of the location, they can stay in place for a maximum period of twenty four hours. Anything above twenty four hours and under twenty eight days has to be informed to the due authorities, in this case, the Marine Management Organisation. Any time frame above twenty eight days requires a special license you have to obtain from them. SMB’s and dSMBs can however be used without licenses provided that the salvaging operations are undertaken by hand and lift bags. As long as the max lift capacity of the bag or bags is not more than a hundred kilos, it’s alright.

Another point to consider is that the act of shifting an object from one place to another also requires a license. It is considered as “dredging” by “the use of any device” in order to move an object “from one part of the sea bed to another part of the sea bed”. However, light work, for example, using hands to sift through the floor, silting, or the usage of simple hand held tools do not fall within the jurisdiction of this new implementation.