Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1505544
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 AUGUST 2023 9 INTERVIEW wrecked in storms, or during wars – these deposits tell us just as much, about our collective history, as anything you'll find on land. But because, in the past, it was always 'out of sight'; it was very much 'out of mind'. So one of our tasks, as the Underwater Cultur- al Heritage Unit, is to change this perception. Not by 'competing' with the rest of Malta's heritage, naturally; if anything, the idea is to complement our understand- ing of that heritage, by restoring its lost 'maritime' component. From what I've already seen in that 360-degree video: the way to do that is by supply- ing visitors with head-sets, so that they can experience Mal- ta's underwater heritage first- hand... That's one of the ways, yes. But not the only one. Another way is through the 'virtual museum', which we launched three years ago. It's an interactive site – ac- cessible through underwater- malta.org – through which any- one, anywhere in the world, can experience free, virtual explora- tion of close to 20 underwater sites, around Malta and Gozo. But to be honest, 'how we take the site to the people' is a ques- tion we have to keep asking ourselves, over and over again: because the pace of technology is advancing so fast, that – for all know – by next week, there may be other, better ways of achiev- ing the same objective; or the technology we are already using, could be taken to a whole new level... For now, however, the expe- rience [of using a 360-degree virtual-reality headset] will be similar to what you've just seen... only they will first be given be a 10-minute presentation, to ex- plain what Malta's underwater heritage consists of; and then shown at least three sites, using the same headsets. And this is something we're already doing. We have an out- reach programme – accessible through the Heritage Malta web- site – whereby we organise visits for anyone who will book us. It's free of charge for all schools; and other associations as well. Recently, for instance, we gave a presentation to the Society for the Deaf. There's no limit, really. The only limit, right now, is the number of headsets. With the virtual museum, on the other hand: the only limit is your Internet connectivity. So in a sense, it's a case 'reverse-engi- neering': from a situation where the sites themselves were phys- ically inaccessible, to all but a handful of people around the world... now, they're accessible to anyone, anywhere, with an In- ternet connection; and even the most basic set of Internet skills. On the subjects of 'limits': the exercise doesn't seem to be restricted to 'archaeology', either. I was just as flabber- gasted by the sheer abundance of marine life – fish, starfish, crabs, lobsters, and all sorts of other things I can't even name – as I was by the wreck itself. Am I right in guessing that this project also has a 'conserva- tion' angle to it? That 'under- water heritage', also means 'natural heritage', up to a cer- tain extent? Well, those two things are never very far apart. In fact, you could almost say they're insepa- rable... on two counts. One, because when something as 'alien', to the marine world, as a man-made ship, sinks to the bottom of the sea... there could be environmental conse- quences. So much so, that when a ship is scuttled, in Maltese wa- ters, to form an artificial reef – as happened in the case of MV Hephaestus, last year – it has to go through a highly regulated cleaning process: adhering to standards that are set by the EU, and implemented by the ERA. It is a complicated process; and it's also very expensive, by the way... which explains why it doesn't ac- tually happen, more often. But those are vessels that were deliberately scuttled, under strictly regulated conditions. It doesn't count for, say, a ship that was struck by a torpedo in World War II... in which case, the captain would hardly be able to turn to the crew, and asked them to 'strip all the chemical paint from the hull', before the ship went down... No: those ships sank to the bot- tom, with whatever they were carrying – which, in the case of more recent vessels, could in- clude fuel; toxic chemicals, etc. – still on board. So up to a point, wrecks do have an impact on the marine environment. But it works both ways... and on balance, we can safely say that wrecks are also highly beneficial to the environment; in that they create the ideal conditions for underwater life to flourish. We see this time and again: and what we have found with the deeper wrecks, in particu- lar, is that... if they're over 50-55 metres deep, they will be sim- ply bursting – but BURSTING – with life: especially now, that we have stopped bottom-fish- ing, bunkering, and anchoring from taking place, in a wide buff- er-zone around all the sites. What we haven't quite under- stood yet, however, is the precise 'synergy' between the natural world, and the cultural heritage deposited within it. Definitely, we can say that cultural heritage is very good for natural heritage; because we see massive concen- trations of species that are nor- mally very rare in Maltese waters – like black coral, for example - but which absolutely flourish, on some of the Heritage Malta sites. But what we are trying to work towards – and what we need a better understanding of - is whether this flourishing of the natural world, 'benefits the ship- wreck, itself'. In a nutshell, we need to understand how this synergy, between the natural and the man-made, actually works in practice. The crucial thing, however, is that we are aware that this rela- tionship exists; and that it needs to be studied further. And this is what we are trying to do... Lastly, there is a very obvious, self-evident 'educational' di- mension to all this. You've al- ready mentioned school-visits, for instance. Out of curiosity: how do children react, to their own experiences of 'virtual diving' on these sites? One of the things that consist- ently amazes me, whenever we show these videos to children in schools, is.... the sort of ques- tions they ask. Instead of the way it used to be, in the past – when the 'experts' stood on a pedes- tal, and simply imparted their knowledge to students below – suddenly, it's as though the ta- bles have turned. Now, with this 360 'full immersion', the kids have the opportunity to go off exploring for themselves. And they start asking US the ques- tions... which could be about anywhere up to eight or nine dif- ferent subjects. They ask about history, nat- urally; but they also ask about biology - because they saw a par- ticular type of starfish; or were fascinated by a type of sponge – they ask about pollution; they ask about the effects of climate change... it really is incredibly multi-faceted. And this was, in fact, one of the main objectives of the outreach programme, in the first place. Actually, there were two: one is to make children (and people in general) 'fall in love with the ocean'; and the other is to 'un- lock their imagination'... because it's important for these kids – aged 10 or 11 years old - to break away from the standard models of education. For instance: why study English? Is it only to 'be- come a teacher', or 'to become a writer'? Now: there is obviously nothing wrong with becoming a 'teach- er', or a 'writer'... but what we're hoping to achieve, through these programmes, is to illustrate that there are different ways those skills could be applied. Over and above their chosen careers... some of those children might be inspired to write scripts for documentaries, for instance; or to start up their own blog about the ocean, or climate change, or whatever else interests them... That, too, is another way of 'taking the site to the people'. Because at the end of the day: the same children we are reach- ing out to today, will – in 10, 15 years' time – be the 'policy-mak- ers', and 'decision-takers', of to- morrow. The Virtual Museum is support- ed by the Malta Tourism Au- thority. The newly Xlendi Park is sponsored by the Malta Airport Foundation. Ongoing research on the Phoenician shipwreck is thanks to the Ministry for Gozo.