The Tribune

• Allen Exploration: Would 'offset' Freeport challenges

• New licence regime as locals 'not benefiting enough'

• Minister challenges licence award 'in dead of night'

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamas-based underwater explorer yesterday said it is "seriously considering" opening a Nassau museum to showcase artifacts recovered from what has been billed as “the most valuable shipwreck in the Western Hemisphere”.

David Concannon, Allen Exploration Group’s spokesperson, told Tribune Business via e-mailed reply to this newspaper's questions that the company was eyeing a second site to "help offset the challenges" with its Grand Bahama museum caused by relatively low visitor numbers.

Speaking as the House of Assembly passed legal reforms that will enable the Government to double its share of the proceeds from treasure salvaging in Bahamian waters, while halving that of groups such as Allen Exploration, Mr Concannon said he was unable to comment on the impact this will have because he had not seen the debate or amendments since he was travelling.

"We have ongoing discussions with the Bahamas Government and an excellent relationship. I am sure this will continue," he told this newspaper, while disclosing that efforts to recover artifacts from the Nuestra Senora de la Maravillas, the sunken Spanish treasure galleon, were progressing albeit slowly.

"The recovery effort is slowly moving forward. It is painstaking but encouraging," Mr Concannon revealed. "The same applies to the museum. Its location in the Lucaya Market (Port Lucaya Marketplace) is challenging. Any successful museum relies on foot traffic to draw visitors, and this location is not in a high traffic area.

"Despite this, the museum hosts a lot of school visits, and the Allens are delighted with this. Educating schoolchildren fits perfectly within their philanthropic interests, so it does not matter if this is not a source of revenue generation. Despite the challenges with the museum on Grand Bahama, the Allens are seriously considering opening a second museum facility in Nassau. If this is located in a high traffic area, it will help offset the challenges in Port Lucaya."

Through the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums (Amendment) Bill 2023, the Davis administration is revising the present formula that splits the proceeds from underwater treasure salvaging 75/25 between the explorer and the Government. The majority of the economic benefits thus go to the explorer, but the reforms debated in the House of Assembly yesterday will change this so that they are split equally - or 50/50 - with the Government.

Besides now receiving 50 percent of the proceeds from all licensed treasure salvaging in Bahamian waters, the Government will also get “first preference” in selecting its share of the recovered artifacts as well as the right to retain those deemed vital to “natural patrimony”.

The Antiquities, Monuments and Museum (Amendment) Bill 2023, in its “objects and reasons” section, states: “This Bill seeks to amend the principal Act to provide for any recovered artifacts to be shared between the Government and the licensee, with each to receive 50 percent, and the Government to have first preference in selecting its share of the recovered artifacts.

“The Bill also seeks to amend the regulation making power to prescribe the maximum period for which a particular type of licence may be granted." The changes are given effect by reforms to the existing Act’s section 13.

“Any artifacts recovered by a licensee under a licence to survey for, or recover, underwater cultural heritage shall be shared between the Government and the licensee with each to receive 50 percent of the total value measured by points, and the Government shall have first preference in selecting its share of the recovered artifacts,” the Bill stipulates.

It adds that, “notwithstanding” the terms set out in that clause, “the Government and the licensee shall agree in writing that government’s retention of any underwater cultural heritage artifacts, which are important to the protection of the natural patrimony, may exceed the Government’s 50 percent share in certain years with the imbalance to be corrected by future divisions”.

This means that, while in certain years the Government’s share of treasure salvaging proceeds may exceed 50 percent as it secures artifacts deemed important to Bahamian culture and history, this will be smoothed out in future years. Jomo Campbell, minister of state for legal affairs, yesterday argued in Parliament that the Government and Bahamian people have not received their due share of benefits from underwater salvaging and treasure/artifact recovery.

"There have been occasions where valuable booty, treasure, has been found and the Government and the Bahamian people have gained some benefit but not enough benefit in my view," he argued. "Treasure hunters, researchers and the like who come to our country must receive permission from the Government to explore our land and waters in any way.

"Should they find anything of value, these amendments ensure the Bahamian people become equal partners in the proceeds of this exploration." Meanwhile, amendments to the regulations accompanying the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Act also set out the new terms, costs and conditions for obtaining underwater exploration and recovery licences.

Mr Campbell said no person or entity will be able to hold more than two such licences "at any one time", and they will be restricted to a maximum of one 'exploration' licence and one 'recovery' licence. “The minister shall not issue more than two licenses per person or entity at any one time," he added.

“Notwithstanding paragraph one, the minister cannot issue more than one exploration licence for a person or entity at any one time, or more than one recovery licence per person or entity at any one time.” Mr Campbell said the reforms also restrict exploration areas to 25 square nautical miles, although this limit can be expanded upon the recommendation of the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation (AMMC).

“The maximum size of the area for which a recovery licence may be granted shall be limited to the size required to encompass the archaeological remains from which recovery is licensed, which shall be expressed with specific co-ordinates. Every area, which is subject to an exploration licence or recovery licence, shall include at its perimeter a buffer zone of 10 nautical miles," Mr Campbell said.

He added that the cost of an exploration licence would be $100,000 and a recovery licence would be $250,000. This, Mr Campbell said, would "protect underwater cultural assets and ensure that exploration companies have a suitable level of financial resources.”

“Considering the staggering amounts of money that have been associated with the value of treasure buried in our waters, or ships that sank in our waters, it's only fair that any proceeds of treasure discovered be shared with the owners of the property where it was found. That is the Bahamian people," Mr Campbell added.

Tribune Business was previously informed by Bahamians who have worked in, and with, the underwater exploration industry that the 75/25 proceeds split in the sector’s favour is standard practice in Florida and other jurisdictions where it is present so that salvagers can gain sufficient return on investment.

However, the Government will likely retort that itself - and the Bahamian people as tax-paying citizens - deserve a greater share of the rewards from their natural patrimony and historical assets that lie within the country’s territorial waters. It can also argue that the revised legislation creates a better, fairer deal in the Bahamian public’s interest.

This newspaper was also informed that the former Minnis administration was encouraged to push for the same 50/50 proceeds split, and enact the same reforms to the Act, now being pushed through by the Davis administration. However, it signed-off on Allen Exploration’s licence before making such moves, and thus was locked in to the 75/25 arrangement.

Keith Bell, minister of labour and Immigration, yesterday challenged the Opposition and former Minnis administration to explain how Allen Exploration was seemingly awarded its licence "in complete darkness" with the Bahamian people only becoming aware of this thanks to this newspaper's reporting. He asserted that the moratorium on such applications appeared to have been lifted "in the dead of the night".

The Bahamas, and successive administrations, have long struggled to get to grips with underwater exploration and treasure salvaging within this nation’s territorial waters, which resulted in a long-standing moratorium on new licences until the one granted to Allen Exploration.

Lacking the necessary expertise and resources to conduct proper oversight, together with the required regulatory regime, The Bahamas has allowed many of these sites to be pillaged and ransacked by unauthorized foreign salvors. This has resulted in many Bahamian artifacts appearing at overseas auctions and sales without this nation receiving a cent in benefits for them.

Yet the sector holds much-needed economic and fiscal potential for The Bahamas should it get it right. One industry source, asked about the sector’s potential value to The Bahamas, simply responded: “Billions”. They added: “The second and third most valuable wrecks in the entire western hemisphere are located off Grand Bahama.

“It would be an entire industry. It has the ability to effectively put Freeport back on the map. You’re talking about billions in artifacts, and I mean billions. You’ve got from conservation of artifacts to research to study to inventory. The question is where is the transparency and the accountability.”