In our country, which has coasts on three seas and one inland sea, unfortunately we live far from a sea culture. Instead of benefiting rationally from the blessings our seas offer us, we are giving an example of vandalism with pirate constructions on our coasts, septic tanks and chemical wastes from industry, uncontrolled hunting, excavations that change the coastal topography and destroy the flora and fauna, and the destruction of cultural heritage by trawls and underwater treasure hunters.
One of the most important routes of ancient maritime trade dating back five thousand years is the coast of our Anatolia. With the calculation that five ships sank every year, at least 25 thousand shipwrecks lie on our shores as cultural treasures.
Many civilizations have been born on Anatolia and its shores for thousands of years until today. The first history, the first geography, the first money, the first epics and many other firsts have spread to the world from these lands. Today, the shores of Turkey are rich enough to make all people interested in archaeology jealous. For this reason, these lands and the seabed have been explored by some foreign scientists and adventurers for over a hundred and fifty years, and some archaeological sites have been thrown away like cotton. Countless works belonging to these lands are exhibited in the great museums of the West, while many of them continue to change hands behind the closed doors of many collectors.