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Last updated: Tuesday 23rd January 2001, 1000 GMT
Shipwreck amnesty
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There are 36,000 wrecks around the coast of Britain.

The Coastguard is to offer an amnesty to people who've kept goods recovered from shipwrecks. It is the first such amnesty in the UK and possibly the world.

The wrecks provide an exciting and sometimes profitable attraction for divers.

This means that divers, fishermen, and people living on the coast who may have interesting objects on their mantlepiece, can declare their find without fear of prosecution. After this period, the agency will get tough.

There are 36,000 wrecks around the coast of Britain. They provide an exciting and sometimes profitable attraction for divers. Legally, they should report anything they take from the wreck.

In reality, that often doesn't happen. On the shore, too, anything washed up does still belong to someone and the finder is supposed to report it. But shipwrecks can provide a bonanza for beachcombers. It's hoped the amnesty will stop that.

Goods are washed up from a ship.

It's thought some of those who keep goods from wrecks are ignorant of their legal obligation. Others are not. In any case, the amnesty is intended to raise awareness.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is hoping divers, antique dealers, fishermen and museums will report finds from the past.

The amnesty will last for three months.

Veronica Robbins, Receiver of Wreck explains what it means: