STAB mission to Croatian best practice system of protection and management

After adopting Resolution 9/MSP7, the Meeting of States Parties to the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (June 2023) recognized the Croatian "System of Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage on sites Velika shallows near Cavtat, Letavica and Baron Gautsch'' as example of best practice in underwater cultural heritage.

Together with UNESCO, ICUA Zadar organized an on-site mission for the members of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Body (STAB).

The STAB members - Mrs Maili Roio (Estonian National Heritage Board), Mr Robert Domzal (director of the National Maritime Museum Gdansk in Poland) and Mr Kalin Dimitrov (Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Sozopol, Bulgaria) - together with ICUA Zadar team (director Mladen Pešić, underwater archaeologist Roko Surić) visited Velika shallows near Cavtat on May 14 and 15, 2024.

On May 16, 2024 the STAB members and ICUA Zadar team (director Mladen Pešić, underwater archaeologists Luka Bekić, Maja Kaleb and Roko Surić) together with Vedran Dorušić (owner and director of Dive Centre Foka) took the STAB representatives to the Letavica underwater site off Pag island.

This on-site mission presented an opportunity to grant certificates for inclusion in the UNESCO Register of best practices related to underwater cultural heritage accessible to all States Parties.

The UNESCO certificates were given to Boris Obradović (owner of Epidaurum Diving and Water Sports Centre) in Cavtat on May 15, 2024 and to Vedran Dorušić in Šimuni, Pag island on May 16, 2024.