Professor Thijs Maarleveld of the University of Southern Denmark and co-founder of the ICOMOS International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH), was a fierce guardian of underwater cultural heritage and proponent of the UNESCO recommendation of in situ preservation as a first option. Despite his unfortunate and untimely passing in 2020, Prof. Maarleveld’s efforts to combat the misrepresentation of commercial salvage as archaeological investigation remains a beacon in the field and a reminder of best practices for protecting UCH. He championed the guiding principle that ‘the preservation in situ of underwater cultural heritage shall be considered as the first option’. Maarleveld noted that ‘the principle to consider in situ preservation first is not to be confused with the foregone conclusion that in situ preservation is what is to be decided to’ (2016, p. 478), only that it is considered as a first option. In addition, strides have been made by UNESCO and other organisations to develop tools for preservation in situ of shipwreck sites that contribute to long term management options but do not ‘reduce a central principle to a management tool’ and it is even understood that there are situations and conditions in which in situ preservation is not a preferred or feasible option (Maarleveld, 2016). However, there are those that have used this as a way to argue instead for commercial salvage of any shipwrecks, not just those that are threatened.