Recently East Carolina University and the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management launched a four-year collaborative project to better understand the types and locations of significant maritime archaeological and cultural heritage resources in the Mariana Islands. The term “resource” represents the total sum of tangible and intangible heritage, practices, traditions, and beliefs to include “traditional cultural properties and traditional cultural use areas.” This holistic and proactive approach to identifying resources, their significance, and developing a community-designed Best Practices Guidelines in consideration of potential offshore renewable energy and marine mineral activities provides an example of how government can and should engage communities through culturally relevant frameworks for the long-term protection of their heritage. This paper outlines some of the guiding principles and methods of the project including the use of FAIR and CARE Principles, focus group workshops, place-based participatory geospatial information system mapping, and grassroots educational programming for capacity building.

Traditional cultural places (TCP) inventories and monitoring present an enhanced opportunity for community engagement and co-stewardship due to the relationships between these heritage resources and living communities. These resources, however, require a relationship-oriented methodological approach for data capture and site stewardship. Drawing from an on-going collaborative project between East Carolina University and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, this presentation discusses the development of a TCP inventory and monitoring program centered on reciprocal relationships, knowledge sovereignty, and ethical data capture. It further outlines potential methodologies and suggested criteria for Federal resource managers.

While video surveys of UCH sites provide dense data about states of UCH sites, archaeological interpretation of video data is labor intensive. Video annotations have been widely utilized as exploration tools in other ocean sciences, and we are just beginning to integrate them into maritime heritage projects. This presentation details a pilot annotation project of ROV video collected on Akagi, Kaga, and USS Yorktown lost during World War II’s Battle of Midway using a tool developed by ONC. SeaTube is a web-based annotation interface enabling replay of video, creating time-stamped annotations by a variety of domain expertise. Annotations are enabled with a search feature that enables users to quickly access the video frames of interest. Built over time at individual site, region, or vernacular typologies, annotation libraries and SeaTube help solve the accessibility and interpretive challenges of UCH video data.

This paper explores the potential of community engagement as a management tool for Iceland's maritime archaeological sites. Given the universal challenges of managing underwater heritage, involving local communities, particularly sports divers, has shown promise. Initial training sessions and surveys revealed a strong interest in participation. However, challenges with communication and professional attitudes towards public involvement highlighted the need for a better base infrastructure and a more inclusive archaeological practice, before work with the community can begin. The research therefore shifted from community engagement to addressing professional perspectives, involving further interviews, surveys, workshops, and educational initiatives. This three-year research, forming a doctoral degree, aims to provide management recommendations to foster a collaborative environment. This paper will outline the main results of the research, and offer the proposed plan for the sustainable management of Iceland's maritime cultural heritage.

A 2019 survey of shipwrecks in Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, discovered numerous shipwrecks at risk of destruction through interactions with recreational divers and fishermen. A subsequent study in 2021 used a reliable, low-cost method of recording shipwrecks to document their conditions. This involved creating accurately scaled 3D photogrammetric models using stereo/dual cameras and low-cost ROV systems. We are creating an open interactive website on Lake Winnipesaukee shipwrecks that contains the historical/archaeological story for each shipwreck, along with 3D models and drawings. Divers will be encouraged to upload images of these sites and additional shipwrecks, which would catalog the most up-to-date conditions and provide a forum for discussion. This information will be valuable for divers and historians. Advice on keeping shipwrecks in an ideal state will be included. The website will hopefully facilitate mitigation strategies for all shipwrecks in Lake Winnipesaukee. This project could easily be translated to other public historical sites.

The Great Lakes contain an estimated 6,000 shipwrecks, many of which await exploration. Preserved by cold freshwater, the Great Lakes possess extraordinary potential for archaeological investigation, documentation, and analysis of historic shipwrecks. Over the last two years, the entire sanctuary was mapped with 100% multibeam echosounder (MBES) coverage, revealing multiple nationally significant shipwreck sites and newly discovered geologic features in Lake Michigan, at depths as great as 480 feet. This presentation will focus on the recent work conducted by NOAA and other partners within the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary (WSCNMS) to explore and document these shipwreck sites and geologic features, and how this data is being used for both current and future projects. Research findings and analysis will be discussed, as well as how this project has allowed the WSCNMS to break new ground in understanding and managing a large collection of maritime heritage sites.