Protecting Bermuda's wrecks

Bermuda's wrecks are a shared museum under the sea. They are protected by law, and by the divers who visit them.

The Historic Wrecks Act 2001

Under the Historic Wrecks Act 2001, wrecks and artefacts more than 50 years old are part of Bermuda's protected marine heritage. The Act is administered by the Department of Conservation Services, through the Custodian of Historic Wrecks, advised by the Historic Wrecks Authority.

• No one may remove, damage or interfere with a historic wreck or artefact without a licence.
• Wrecks may be classified as open (open to recreational divers) or restricted (closed to recreational diving, usually because they are fragile or of special archaeological importance).
• Anything found on or near a wreck must be left in place and reported.

Wrecks less than 50 years old, such as the ships sunk as artificial reefs, are not "historic" under the Act, but the same good practice applies.

Bermuda has controlled work on historic wrecks for decades. Before the 2001 Act, amendments to the Wreck and Salvage Act 1959 already made it illegal to raise anything from a wreck without a licence, and licence holders had to file reports and inventories with the Receiver of Wreck and the Historic Wrecks Authority to keep their licences. The system was designed to let skilled local divers, paid or unpaid, take part, while making sure nothing of value left the island without permission.

No-fishing zones at dive sites

Many of the most popular wreck and reef dive sites are marked with a buoy, and fishing of any kind (line fishing, spear-fishing and lobster diving) is prohibited all year within a set radius of the buoy, usually 300 to 500 metres and up to 1,000 metres at North Rock. Breaking these rules can lead to a fine or imprisonment. Check the current list, Bermuda's No Fishing Areas (Government of Bermuda), before you go. It gives each protected site's position and no-fishing radius, and the seasonal closures that protect spawning fish.

How to dive a wreck responsibly

• Dive with a licensed Bermuda dive operator and use the public mooring buoys. Never anchor on a wreck or reef.
• Look, don't touch: coral and old iron are easily broken, and many wrecks are fragile.
• Take only photographs. Leave every artefact, however small, exactly where it lies.
• Keep good buoyancy and keep fins off the reef.
• Never enter an overhead environment without the right training.

Why leave artefacts where they are?

Almost nothing raised from the sea survives without laboratory treatment. Pottery must have the salt drawn out of it or it slowly breaks up, and iron that is allowed to dry falls apart into flakes of rust within a short time; only gold comes up unharmed. A souvenir pocketed on a dive is usually lost to decay - and the information about where it lay, which might have helped date or identify the ship, is lost with it.

Even a scrap of broken pottery can matter: on Bermuda's wrecks the cheapest finds, such as potsherds, firewood and barrel staves, have often told archaeologists more than gold. If you come across something that looks old, note where it is, leave it, and tell your dive operator or the Custodian of Historic Wrecks.

Who to contact

Department of Conservation Services (Custodian of Historic Wrecks), Bermuda Government: gov.bm/department/conservation-services.