Chasing provenance: Legal dilemmas for protecting states with a verifiable link to underwater culture heritage

This paper demonstrates the legal dilemmas for protecting rights of states with a verifiable link to underwater cultural heritage (UCH) at doctrinal and practical levels and from international and domestic perspectives. The dilemmas include vague definitions, time-consuming procedures, weak remedies for violation, jurisdiction conflicts, and legal vacuum. It argues that domestic legislations are limited in offering protection to states with a verifiable link to UCH. More international cooperation is necessary. However, existing international conventions are insufficient in this aspect. Therefore, states are strongly encouraged to conclude bilateral or regional UCH treaties to protect themselves.