s, head of the state-run preservation organisation, resigned last week after the government signed a three-year agreement with a U.S. company. The company is authorised to raise ships and treasure from the island‘s treacherous Pedro Banks, where many vessels sank between the 16th and 18th centuries. „Awarding the contract turns our shores into a treasure hunt when, in fact, it should be used for archaeological and academic research,“ Roberts told Reuters in a telephone interview. One of the trust‘s missions is to preserve the sovereignty of territorial waters, Roberts noted. The licensing agreement reversed a ban on treasure hunting declared by Jamaica in 1991. Local salvors complained that the government changed policy without notifying them. The contract with Atlanta-based Admiralty Corp., a privately owned technology development company, will begin in six months. The company will search for treasure from the Caribbean‘s buccaneering era, including the Spanish ship the Genovesa. The Genovesa sank with a load of gold and silver estimated to be worth $300 million to $400 million, Admiralty Chief Executive Herbert Leeming said. „Jamaica is one of the areas in the world that has an abundance of shipwrecks based on trade routes. We are‘interested in Pedro Bank because of its strategic location,“ Leeming told Reuters. Education and Culture Minister Burchell Whiteman said Leeming‘s company was awarded the license because it had the technological resources for the search. „Most salvagers turn up seabeds. This technology allows us to locate cargoes of historical shipwrecks without destroying the seabed,“ Leeming said. Leeming said he anticipated working with local people but was uncertain what would become of any recovered treasure. „Some governments may buy it from us if they want to put them into museums, or in some cases we may hold objects for investments, or we may sell them or put them up for auction,“ he said.