Even after wrecks are recovered, follow-up research and preservation is difficult, as China lacks the cutting-edge technology used by foreign archaeologists.

The Nanhai-1, retrieved from the waters in 2007 after being officially encountered in 2000, carried porcelain and other treasures between China and the Middle East during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Its retrieval provided evidence of a "Marine Silk Road" between Song era China and other medieval powers.

But the ship is currently trapped inside a manmade tank in the Guangdong Marine Silk Road Museum, waiting for a thorough excavation from the fluid mud that has been protecting it from the past 800 years.

"How to keep water conditions in the tank similar to where the vessel was found and how to open the vessel without damaging it are still scientific problems that we need to resolve before we begin examining the ship," Liu Zhiyuan, head of the vessel's archaeology team, told the Xinhua News Agency.

Valuing the past

"China is far behind advanced Western countries on marine heritage protection in terms of awareness of the need for protection, as well as talent and technology," Sun Keqin, a professor at the China University of Geosciences specializing in cultural heritage preservation, told the Global Times Thursday.

The SACH has set promoting marine archaeology as a key target for 2011, according to its website, but the concept is still unfamiliar to professionals.

"No Chinese universities really offer a degree specializing in marine archaeology, which greatly limits our capacity to correctly protect so many underwater sites and develop them into world-level heritage sites," said Sun.

Sun called for universities to set up majors in marine heritage protection.