By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian economy would receive a much-needed multi-billion dollar injection if international wreck salvaging companies were permitted to work in its waters, one operator yesterday warning it would be “tremendously sad” if this opportunity was not exploited.

Robert Pritchett, chairman and chief executive of Global Marine Exploration (GME), which has submitted one of the 18 licence applications that have been before the Government for around two years, said the potential economic and cultural heritage spin-offs from the sector could be profound.

“If we believe all the research we have, and everything people have said, there’s billions of dollars - ‘b’ as in billions,” Mr Pritchett told Tribune Business of the economic value tied up in shipwrecks lying in Bahamian waters.

And, with the laws relating to wreck salvaging stipulating that the Government would receive a 25 per cent share of any profits, the GME chairman said the Public Treasury would also receive an injection ‘in the b’s’.

“If they did this, with a 25 per cent share, the Government stands to get several billions of dollars into the economy,” Mr Pritchett said.

“Think about the amount of money guys would get to spend on fuel, food and housing. A tremendous amount would go into the local economy.

“I’d say it would be several billion, and that’s probably being conservative. You guys have a lot of shipwrecks, and quite a lot of famous shipwrecks that had a lot of gold on them when they sank.

“It think it could be very beneficial in a lot of different ways to a lot of people, including and especially to the Government. They’ve got to figure out how they want to do it, keep it honest and make it happen.”

Mr Pritchett and his GME colleagues know from where they speak. They previously founded Anchor Research & Salvage, a company that obtained a salvage exploration licence from the Dominican Republic’s government in 2010.

They mapped 27 miles on Dominica’s east coast, and 90 miles on its southern coast. In the process, they located over 100 ship wrecks, some 40 of which are estimated to have “significant value or some value”.

Suggesting that the Bahamas was even more fertile salvaging and exploration ground, the GME chairman told Tribune Business: “I see a great deal of potential in just the artefacts and all the heritage, and a few museums opening up, charging admission. People like that.

“It would be tremendously sad if it [wreck salvaging in the Bahamas] doesn’t happen for the country’s heritage, not to mention monetary value.”

Mr Pritchett added that he had worked in wreck exploration and salvaging for 25 years, and that GME had just received its first exploration permit in Florida.

While many wreck salvaging applicants have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks over the Government’s failure to approve their licence submissions within the promised 90 days, Mr Pritchett and GME are taking a more sanguine approach to the situation.

He told Tribune Business that it was more important that the Bahamas “control” any wreck salvage operations to ensure they were “done right”, rather than encourage an influx of companies that lacked the ability to do this, resulting in both economic and heritage losses.

Although GME had been among the first wave of licence applicants when the Government lifted the long-standing wreck exploration moratorium in 2012, Mr Pritchett said: “Honestly, to give you my opinion, the Bahamas should be careful in the way they go about doing this.

“There are a lot of guys out there that do not do the right thing. They [the Government] need to keep control, give out 3,000 square nautical miles at a time, survey the area, and give the results back to Michael Pateman.”

The Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation’s (AMMC) archaeologist would then work with the licence holder to identify any wrecks located, and determine the next steps to be taken.

“That way the Bahamas knows what they have. There are guys who go in, survey one wreck and never finish the job,” Mr Pritchett added.

“With our company, we survey first, we identify and then we salvage. If it’s done that way, the best benefits are that the Bahamas gets to know what is there in terms of cultural history, and then can make the best decision.”

“We want to work over there, but we understand the Bahamas needs to have full control of what’s going on, and have the right people over there,” Mr Pritchett said. “There’s got to be a certain level of trust, and police and security on board.

“The guys that do not have the right amount of money to do the job do not have great equipment, and do not know how to use it. We just want everybody to do what they’re supposed to do.”

Mr Pritchett told Tribune Business that GME as a company had a strong enough capital base, and other work, to “survive” until such time as the Government decided to approve its Bahamian exploration licence.

“We’re going to be here 10 years, 20 years from now,” he added. “We’re a global company, We’d like to work in the Bahamas, but want them to do it right, rather than someone go over there, make a mistake and shut it down.

“It’s all about control, having the right plan and letting people do the work. The ones complaining are the ones that don’t understand it takes time to get it right. This may not be a priority, but it needs to be addressed.

Many observers, though, have warned that the failure to approve licence applications by legitimate operators is helping to further facilitate the illegal pillaging of wreck sites.

Among prime Bahamian exploration targets are likely to be the wreck of the Nuestra de Signora Maravillas, thought to have gone down with $8 billion in gold in shallow waters off Grand Bahama’s West End, plus the Capitana, believed to have sunk with an estimated $2 billion in golds and emeralds from Colombia.

And an idea of what the treasure/wreck salvaging industry could generate for the Bahamas, in terms of economic impact, is hinted at by a 2008 survey of what it has done for Florida.

The survey, prepared for the Mel Fisher Centre, found that state’s marine salvage sector had directly generated economic activity worth $70.9 million per annum, and some 550 jobs. Earnings produced by the sector stood at $26.2 million.

“Museums, retailing operations and the donation to Florida of more than 38,000 salvaged items of historic and cultural value have benefited Florida and its citizens, as well as citizens from across the world who have visited here,” the report said.