Stop using metal detectors

Visitors and residents in Antigua and Barbuda are being warned to stop using metal detectors to uncover artefacts on the country’s beaches.
In a press release on Wednesday, Cabinet reiterated that it is against the law for anyone to use metal detectors to unearth artefacts buried under the sand and on shorelines.
OBSERVER media spoke with Chief of Staff, Lionel “Max” Hurst, yesterday, who explained the reason why the issue was necessary for a Cabinet discussion.
While people who use metal detectors often find minor items, such as nails, Hurst said that, “Sometimes, they do finds things that are of great value, and they appropriate them and leave Antigua with them.”
He added that, “what we are attempting to do is to ensure that our cultural history is preserved.”
Hurst said that preservation is critically important to the government, and preservation will ensure that future Antiguans and Barbudans will have the opportunity to experience and learn about their culture.
“What we want to do is to ensure that implements of all kinds that helped to shape the history of Antigua and Barbuda are preserved and that our children and grandchildren will get the opportunity to see them and to ensure that they continue to exist, for as long as Antigua and Barbuda does, so that they may learn something about [the past],” he said.
Although it is a new problem and Antigua and Barbuda is not the only Caribbean country facing this issue, Hurst made clear that this government will seek assistance from hotels and cruise-liners to address the issue.
“In Antigua and Barbuda’s case, we want our past to be preserved – that is something on which we are working, he said, adding that, “The cruise ships will make it a policy to add something to their information sheet which they distribute to passengers aboard the cruise ships.”