The National Plan for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage

The National Plan for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage has a single goal: the adoption of a series of specific measures for the protection, conservation and diffusion of this rich heritage we have in our waters to create awareness, in a coordinated way, for all the departments and public government bodies involved in this protection. The National Plan establishes the basic guidelines for the Government of Spain to carry out an effective comprehensive protection policy for our underwater archaeological heritage in a coordinated way and in permanent collaboration with Autonomous Communities.

Said plan establishes the basic measures that should guide an effective protection policy for our underwater archaeological heritage. These measures fall into five categories: measures for documentation and inventory; physical and legal protection; training; coordination and diffusion; and measures to create awareness.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports has created an awareness campaign for the diffusion and enhancement of Spain's Underwater Cultural Heritage via the following goals:

• Knowledge and understanding of the true nature of underwater cultural heritage.
• The involvement of the general public in the satisfaction and pride of having a shared public and common heritage of such importance and interest.

This awareness campaign for the diffusion and enhancement of Spain's Underwater Cultural Heritage includes, among others, the following actions:

• Creating maritime archaeological heritage routes.
• The designing of public awareness campaigns with regard to chance discoveries or those resulting from archaeological research.
• Temporary exhibitions on Underwater Cultural Heritage, and the publishing of catalogues and other informative books.
• The enhancement of Underwater Cultural Heritage whether in situ or in museums; the possibility of preparing archaeological sites to make them visitable; creating underwater archaeological parks; creating underwater archaeology rooms in museums, or creating and enhancing interpretation centres devoted to this heritage.

The Green Book provides the tools for meeting the goals of the National Plan. It provides a list of measures ranging from the documentation and inventory of underwater archaeological heritage to the physical and legal protection of the most emblematic underwater archaeological sites along our coast; it also includes training in this field in addition to the signing of agreements with the Ministries of Defence, the Interior and Foreign Affairs.

One of the highlights of the actions created by the National Plan is the Maritime Archaeological Heritage Route of Spain and Portugal. Its aim is to bring the maritime archaeological heritage of Spain and Portugal to the public via the creation of a route that includes museums, institutions and archaeological sites of interest in the field of underwater archaeology and maritime archaeological heritage, promoting its knowledge and enjoyment as well as the notion that it is a shared heritage.Salto de línea The Route is coordinated by the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology, ARQUA, in collaboration with the Portuguese National Nautical and Underwater Archaeology Centre, the Underwater Archaeological Centre of Catalonia and the Andalusian Centre for Underwater Archaeology.

One of the first actions of the Route was to publish the Guide of the Route of the maritime archaeological heritage of Spain and Portugal. It lists the institutions and museums with items of underwater archaeological provenance as well as about fifty maritime, naval or archaeological museums which conserve or exhibit, among other items, underwater heritage.