ABSTRACT
The Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) was adopted at UNESCO on 2 November 2001 and came into force on 2 January 2009 after the 20th instrument of ratification. UCH 2001 essentially seeks to take historic wreck and other UCH out of the wreck and salvage law regimes and have them treated as archaeological sites. Most UCH will be totally underwater continuously, especially that which rests in international waters far from the coast. The elimination of the law of salvage to UCH is addressed in UCH 2001 itself and in the Annex of UCH 2001 that set out the rules of good archaeological practice. Underwater archaeology differs from terrestrial archaeology in a number of ways. Within internal waters, archipelagic waters and territorial sea, the coastal State has, as an exercise of its sovereignty, the exclusive right to regulate and authorise activities directed at UCH.
