On Tuesday 5th March, Historic Scotland held a seminar in Perth on the transition from the Protection of Wrecks Act to Historic Marine Protected Areas. Presentations were divided into three themes, ‘Advancing knowledge and making information widely available’, ‘Improving stewardship of key marine heritage sites’ and ‘Developing wider understanding and enjoyment’
WA Coastal & Marine Scottish staff were present in force and gave three of the twelve talks of the day.
Dr Dan Atkinson gave a talk on ‘Professional training needs’ in the marine sector. Following a consultation survey a broad cross-section of the marine sector responded from heritage and industry professionals. Key findings include greater awareness for training and Continuing Professional Development as well as the need for training to be more than one one-off events. A major area identified for development and understanding is the ‘marine-terrestrial’ interface in the context of recent changes to marine legislation.
John McCarthy gave a talk summarising all of the various projects WA Coastal & Marine have undertaken in Scotland in support of the HMPA transition, including legal guidance for Historic Scotland, diver surveys of Sicar Rock and the Iona I and a multibeam survey at Scapa Flow.
Dr Andrew Bicket spoke about results of the two year OHCCMAP project in the Outer Hebrides. The results of recent work in the Outer Hebrides by WA C&M between 2011 and 2013 – the Outer Hebrides Marine Archaeology Pilot Project - were presented at the seminar highlighting three themes. Marine Resource Exploitation, Maritime History and Transport and the potential for Submerged Prehistory in the Islands. Modelling of prehistoric landscapes suggests a complex network of inundated seaways within the Sound of Harris from the Mesolithic onwards as well as a number of key locations for future fieldwork. The importance of local knowledge and oral history to the project has made the investigation of a number of remote field sites possible and we were able to examine the legacy of individual farmsteads and people and their use of the surrounding landscape; including marine resources and their use of the sea.
We also took the opportunity to announce the upcoming SAMPHIRE project which will build on the results of OHCCMAP.
Dr Antony Firth of Fjordr took the opportunity to highlight the need for responses to his Wave and Tidal guidance document before the 15th March. Other speakers represented SCAPE, RCAHMS, HS, Rising Tide, Marine Scotland, the NAS and ALGAO. The seminar will be followed on the 6th by a related seminar focussing on Battlefields.