Valuable Treasure Found In Namibia: Do You Think Maritime Law Need To Change?

Turkey
September 29, 2008 9:23am CST
Apparently, Archaeologists are racing to salvage a fortune in coins and valuables found in a 500-year-old shipwreck found recently off Namibia's southern coast. The article says that it could make this the largest treasure found in Africa outside of Egypt. It also says that the vessel is the best preserved of it's time outside of Portugal. However, under international maritime laws, a wreck and it's treasures belong to the country into which they were found, even if the treasure was found by outsiders. In my opinion, I think that this law needs to changed because when someone finds something like this, where all the known owners are deceased and can no longer claim it, I think that whoever finds it should be allowed to keep it and claim it as their own. They're the ones that worked for it and who used their personal resources to get it. If nothing else, then they should get some of it. This is just my opinion on this but I would like to hear yours. What do you think, do you think maritime laws need to change or do you think they're fair and just? Here's the link to the article as well, so you can read it for yourself: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/namibiaportugalarchaeologyshipping
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