The Value and Valuation of Maritime Cultural Heritage

Abstract

AbstractMaritime cultural heritage is made up of finite and nonrenewable cultural resources including coastal or submerged prehistoric and indigenous archaeological sites and landscapes, historic waterfront structures, the remnants of seagoing vessels, and the maritime traditions and lifeways of the past and present. To date, evaluative tools used to assess the social and economic “value” of this heritage are extremely limited, the lack of which often results in the loss of maritime cultural resources and unrealized socioeconomic opportunities. Market and nonmarket valuations, derived from ecological economics and ecosystem assessments, are viable techniques that may be integrated into existing U.S. environmental and historic preservation regulatory procedures to support resource significance determinations. In doing so, decision-making regarding maritime cultural heritage can include assessments of the short- and long-term trade-offs of human actions, and can examine the socioeconomic costs and benefits of heritage conservation projects.