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> >> This life (sea anemones, muscels) has a relatively short life span.
> >> Are a few anemones worth saving over a porthole?  The wrecks are
> >> covered with these things anyway.

> > That's an incredibly naive view. Life must surely be worth infinitely
> > more than a piece of brass - and I'm not even a conservationist.

> Are you an animal rights extremist from PETA?  This is the same argument
> they make when telling people to not swat flies.  Is every individual plant
> and animal on the planet worth an infinite amount (and therefore must
> be saved)?

And on the other end of that spectrum are those who think that every
person is worth an infinite amount, a position that I think is downright
stupid. How many sea anemones is one person worth? IMHO it depends on
the person.

Its really a question of greed vs. altruism. Off hand, it appears to me
like those who want to strip a wreck for personal souvenirs fall into
the greed category. My philosophy has always been look but don't touch,
but I'll admit that even that may be a little extreme. If a modern
wreck is left alone it will eventually disappear and be lost to all.
It seems to me that an appropiate position to take would be that anything
taken from a wreck be donated to a museum so that everybody can enjoy it.
That way the person who got the artifact will be given credit for the
find but won't be as likely to be driven by greed to take something that
really belongs to us all.

Its funny how this sort of discussion polarizes people to the extreme
positions, when generally the solution lies somewhere in the middle.

Eric

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