Found gear etiquette

[hankypank 0]

More of a rant but anyway, I went for a dive on the weekend at a popular UK dive spot and one of the people on the boat found an underwater camera straight under the mooring, with next to no marine growth and looked near mint so had to only be in the water a short time. It turned on straight away too so I told the guy to check the first images for a name, number or something (which is what I have), but the boat operators and the guy who found it were straight onto google to see how much they could flog it off for. As the only person on the boat with camera gear it  rubbed me the wrong way that they all wouldn't even entertain the thought of asking the other boat operators (there are only a few) if their divers had lost gear or flicking through pics looking for the owner . I know they have no obligation to try and even finding the owner would have been slim but it still felt weird, almost vulnerable having all this expensive gear and knowing that if it went 'missing' in any way then I'd better start looking at fb classifieds to try and get it back.
 

[TimG 62]

Wow, yeah, that sucks. It's even possible it's a Wetpixel member.

Do you want to tell us where?

[ChrisRoss 150]

8 hours ago, hankypank said:

More of a rant but anyway, I went for a dive on the weekend at a popular UK dive spot and one of the people on the boat found an underwater camera straight under the mooring, with next to no marine growth and looked near mint so had to only be in the water a short time. It turned on straight away too so I told the guy to check the first images for a name, number or something (which is what I have), but the boat operators and the guy who found it were straight onto google to see how much they could flog it off for. As the only person on the boat with camera gear it  rubbed me the wrong way that they all wouldn't even entertain the thought of asking the other boat operators (there are only a few) if their divers had lost gear or flicking through pics looking for the owner . I know they have no obligation to try and even finding the owner would have been slim but it still felt weird, almost vulnerable having all this expensive gear and knowing that if it went 'missing' in any way then I'd better start looking at fb classifieds to try and get it back.
 

I think in a number of jurisdictions it's illegal to keep stuff you find - you are required to take a reasonable attempt to find the owners. In the UK, which to me says they do have an obligation to try to find the owners:  https://notlost.com/the-definitive-guide-to-lost-property-laws-in-the-uk/

and also this: https://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/what-we-do/public-safety-and-welfare/lost-and-found-property/

It could be argued the camera contains data - see last item on list of items Police will now accept.

In Sydney there is an active Facebook page where people advertise stuff they find UW and it is regularly returned to the owners through that forum.

[hankypank 0]

12 hours ago, TimG said:

Wow, yeah, that sucks. It's even possible it's a Wetpixel member.

Do you want to tell us where?

It was at Lundy so I'm sure a lot of people here are familiar with the area. It's just a shame really.

Edited September 21, 2021 by hankypank

[hankypank 0]

4 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

I think in a number of jurisdictions it's illegal to keep stuff you find - you are required to take a reasonable attempt to find the owners. In the UK, which to me says they do have an obligation to try to find the owners:  https://notlost.com/the-definitive-guide-to-lost-property-laws-in-the-uk/

and also this: https://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/what-we-do/public-safety-and-welfare/lost-and-found-property/

It could be argued the camera contains data - see last item on list of items Police will now accept.

That is very interesting. Hopefully they do the right thing.

[Alex_Mustard 0]

The joy of returning stuff

https://www.bsac.com/news-and-blog/here-be-treasure/

 

[Paul Kay 31]

If it was recovered from the sea then in theory it should be reported to the Receiver of Wreck and this involves a fair bit of paperwork and waiting to see if the owner can be found or claims it.