スペイン政府とトレジャーハンター

先日話題になっていたジブラルタルで遺物を売買する目的で引き揚げられた沈没船（コードネームブラックスワン）がまたニュースになっています。

スペイン政府がこの沈没船で作業していたOdyssey Marine Exploratio社の船を調査のため引き留めたそうです。スペイン政府はこの作業が違法でないか調べるために２－３日かかると発表しています。

すでに金銭的価値のある遺物はフロリダに陸揚げされています。今後、スペイン政府、会社側などがどのような対応するかが今後の水中文化遺産の在り方に影響を与えていくことでしょう。

Spanish authorities boarded the ship 3.5 miles off Europa Point, near Gibraltar.

The Spanish Coast Guard subsequently ordered the Ocean Alert to head to the port of Algeciras in Spain.

The ship has now arrived in Algeciras, and an inspection of the vessel has commenced. An Odyssey representative has been informed that the inspection may take as long as two to three days, and it is anticipated that the vessel will be permitted to leave at the conclusion of the inspection, the company said in a release.

The boarding is connected with the dispute with Spain over ownership of the $500 million in gold and silver coins discovered by Odyssey explorers in May off the coast of England. Spanish authorities immediately questioned the origin of the ship, code-named “Black Swan” by Odyssey and have demanded better identification of the ship from Odyssey.

It has since filed claims in a U.S. federal court, arguing that it was entitled to the treasure if the ship was of Spanish origin.

Odyssey recently provided a 109-page legal affidavit to authorities in the Spanish Federal government, the Junta de Andalucía, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, and the United States detailing Odyssey’s activities leading up to, and after, the announcement of the “Black Swan” discovery. This document (which covered nine years of communications and meetings between Odyssey, the Junta of Andalucia and the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain) was provided in order to address questions posed by the Spanish regarding Odyssey’s activities and to reassure all concerned governments and officials that Odyssey has always acted legally and with full transparency in relation to the “Black Swan” project and in all other shipwreck exploration activities.

Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) has several shipwreck projects in various stages of development throughout the world.

引用元：http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/07/09/daily38.html