What Is IMAC ?
The Institute of Marine Archaeological Conservation Digest was conceived as an informational news forum for the responsible recovery of historic shipwrecks based on sound archaeological principals. IMAC digest covers a variety of subjects in the political, legal and ethical profession of the recovery and conservation of these marine cultural resources and their allocation.
IMAC's Objectives Include:
Enhancing the quality of the ocean environment and native ecosystems in and around the Florida Keys;
Developing and implementing educational and scientific programs including the presentation of ongoing marine projects and events;
Advocating and supporting private and commercial motivation for shipwreck exploration and to recommend that an incentive regime with application of the Maritime Law of Salvage and Finds be fully recognized in all permitting requests when applicable;
Promoting the protection and restoration of cultural resources by upholding the equal and just application of federal, state, and local laws pertaining thereto;
Helping create and develop new bio-diverse ecosystems based upon natural and/or artificial reefs, which would include and sustain soft and hard corals, sponges and other indigenous plant life that would serve as a habitat for the development of naturally occurring aquatic hatcheries.
Advocating sound conservation principles in the preservation of the world's maritime cultural heritage and encourage those in academic vocations to participate in those recoveries so that the historical and archaeological information extracted from these resources be added to the world body of knowledge;
Promoting the display of these antiquities to the public through museums or by returning them to the stream of commerce for private use;
Bringing together all those who have an interest in the cultural resource for the benefit and protection of that resource through public and private participation;
Continue to endorse the ethical standards by which all shipwreck remains and their cargoes can be shared by those who have an interest in their origins, as long as the multiple use of those resources be maintained according to those standards;
Seeking to develop and demonstrate practical ways to insure an equitably balanced use of the world’s land and ocean cultural resources which would encourage the optimum dissemination of data for its citizens and to make public that information which is gleaned therein through all media- foreign and domestic.