Seabed heritage is facing catastrophic destruction on multiple fronts

Sunk more than 2,000 years ago, it might have been in better condition if bottom-trawling fishing boats had not repeatedly scraped their nets along the seafloor, right through the site. In their wake, the ship’s ancient amphorae lay damaged and the hull timbers had been dragged from where they lay. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.

In a recent study, Rory Quinn of Ulster University, Northern Ireland, and colleagues compiled data on known shipwrecks—some 150,000 records—and the movements of fishing vessels to reveal which underwater heritage sites are most at risk globally from deep-sea mining and trawling. 

Writing in The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the team note that few shipwrecks lie in zones that could soon be exploited for deep-sea mineral mining—an industry in its early stages—but also that only 0.2% of wrecks worldwide lie in areas classified as fully protected, where mining would be prohibited.