The incident involved the deliberate severing of three site boundary buoys and a larger, main site position buoy. Lines were winched up and cut, leaving buoys to float away.
The lines were connected with a labrynth of bottom lines with archaeological mapping tags, many of which were torn out and will need to be relaid. The main position buoy's half-ton anchor weight was even hauled off the bottom and dumped in a different position.
The buoys had only recently been laid by the South West Maritime Archaeological Group (SWMAG), which manages the site under the direction of licensee and group member Mick Palmer, at a cost of around ?5000.
The vessel responsible is thought to have been a rogue fishing boat, which laid a fresh lobster pot on the site before it departed. While the amnage was clearly malicious, it is thought that the boat's crew may not have known quite what they were dealing with - despite the fact that the site is clearly marked on charts as a protected area.
'Through the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Fishing Vessel Registry we have established that this vessel was the only one to enter the protected site area over the period of the incident,' Mark Dunkley of English Heritage, which administers site designations for the DCMS, told Divernet.
'We have no firm evidence linking the boat with the incident but, on strong suspicion that this is the vessel involved, we have written to the boat's owner pointing out the site's national importance, the responsibilities of English Heritage over protected sites, and that to tamper with one is an offence under the Protection of Wrecks Act.
'The letter is effectively a warning that this must not happen again.'
Maritime lawyer Mike Williams, a member of the SWMAG, told Divernet: 'As with English Heritage we are happy to take an educational approach with this incident - but no-one can now be in doubt about the site's importance.
'Regarding any further disruption of the site it should be remembered that, the licensee agreement apart, the SWMAG is the site's salvor in possession. As such, legal action over tampering with the site could come from us as well as the Government.'
The maximum penalty for tampering with a protected site is only ?2000, on summary conviction in a magistrate's court. But conviction on indictment in a crown court could carry a much larger fine and/or prison sentence, at the discretion of the judge.
SWMAG has asked Prawle Point Coast Watch to monitor the site, which lies only half a mile out, so that clear witness statements would be available for any legal action in the future.
Williams stressed that relations with the local fishing community were excellent. 'This incident is thought to have involved just one craft which recently arrived in the area, and we are very grateful for the support we have received from the rest of the fishing community since this incident.
'The large site buoy was found by one skipper floating off Prawle Point and returned to us, and Salcombe Harbour Authority has donated other buoys to replace those lost.'
Although there is a history of small-scale incidents involving buoys and lines at the site, the latest incident is by far the largest to have occurred. Tim Robins, Deputy Chief of Devon Sea Fisheries Committee, said: 'Most of the fishing industry would not go in deliberately damaging a site like this.'
SWMAG's survey and excavation of the site over the past 12 years is one of the country's most impressive stories of archaeological work by amateur divers. A range of late Middle Bronze Age artefacts were raised and are now held by the British Museum.
Further excavation could be carried out from next summer.
Related links
The Salcombe excavation
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