Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his interesting remarks and for the sympathetic attitude that he has shown to the subject. I should make it clear that under existing law—I refer in particular to HMS "Victory"—although HMS "Victory" was in international waters, the fact that it was a British vessel was recognised by all concerned, so we had the right to dispose of the remains of the ship in the way that we thought best. I was trying to suggest in that part of my remarks that no proper attention was devoted to that by the Government, who simply allowed the Ministry of Defence to sell it off for what it could get to the United States. That does not seem to me to be an appropriate treatment of the most historic wreck belonging to this country found for a very long time. I also suggest that, in the other legislation referred to, it would be helpful if more specific reference were made to exactly what we mean by the marine environment. For a lot of people, that will mean fish. The idea that there will be treasures down there that people are not free to raid needs to be explored. Living where I do, it is clear to me that there are a lot of foreign vessels snooping around our shores looking for what they can find. I have yet to see a vehicle from the Ministry of Defence or anyone else keeping an eye on what is going on. We do that where we are. There is an enormous gap before good intentions are transferred into something more concrete. That was my only motive in moving the amendment. I hope that we can be a little more specific; that would give a great deal of encouragement to those of us who care. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 19 withdrawn.