Cultureel erfgoed in de Noordzee: hoe gaan we er mee om?

When an onshore archaeological site will be disturbed, the disturber has to pays for the archaeological research. This is an outcome of the European Malta Convention. For the offshore areas in the North Sea, current focus lies on ship wrecks, although the North Sea contains a significant portion of the paleo- and mesolithic cultural heritage of The Netherlands. Sand-extraction and other offshore activities pose a threat to the archaeological archive in the North Sea, but unfortunately the archive remains unprotected, although the Malta Convetntion also applies to offshore areas. We argue that the same principle of "the disturber pays" should be used for offshore disturbance. Essential in this is good cooperation between archaeologists, geologists and the companies working in the North Sea. It is the needed way forward and will result in the optimization of the usage of subsurface information that is gathered before and during the disturbance