Or is it too weak to protect some of the wrecks from plunder and occasional souvenir-hunting by sports divers?

The body of a sports diver who went missing in Killary harbour, Co Galway, at the weekend has been recovered.

Three years ago sports diver Danny Daniels led a dive team that stumbled on the wreck of a warplane off the coast of Plymouth.

However, the divers say that if they had not saved the items, they would have been removed by sports divers and lost to the State.