From the Caribbean to the South African coast, marine&nbsp; archaeologist Matthew Arnett’s work involves recovering treasures from the deep – and preserving them for posterity.



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I have a pet peeve with people like Elon Musk who want to
jet off to space,” remarks Matthew Arnett, who has made it his business to
explore the depths of the world’s oceans.



“I would think 99% of the sea is left unexplored. I believe
there are answers there that come from energy and renewable resources. There is
a twilight zone that we don’t even know is there, and they want to go to
Mars!”&nbsp; 



&nbsp;It is the planet we are in that Arnett, the co-founder and CEO of PO8, has made his priority, uncovering treasures that date as far back as the 1400s. 



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“Millions should be spent under the ocean instead of jetting
off to space so quick. There are many aspects of the blue economy that have not
been explored and there are so many opportunities that come out of it,” says
the explorer who is based in the Caribbean and visiting South Africa.



PO8 is a marine archaeology startup that uses blockchain
technology to recover sunken artifacts from the ocean floor. 



Using the blockchain model, through PO8, ownership of the
recovered treasures and artifacts is with non-fungible tokens, which are
asset-backed tokens. 



Arnett says the sensitive, more lucrative approach is preserving these artifacts in museums and not giving them away to private collectors. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“They [the artifacts] have to stay in the public domain and that is why there are the museums.” </blockquote>



With innovative ways of looking at the blue economy, the PO8
project, based in the Caribbean, also aims to connect lost histories across the
globe. 



The growing historical tourism market in the Caribbean
generates revenue without selling any of the recovered artifacts, leading to
social and economic impact that he says can be duplicated in Africa. 



“Because of the success in the Caribbean, it only makes
sense to come back to Africa to put the same model in place. 



“There are millions and billions of dollars in the ocean,”
Arnett says. 



“We are going to find other things that relate back to
Africa, so we might also be able to find some missing links from an
anthropology stand point.”&nbsp; 



He believes his work contributes to transforming the narrative of the Caribbean that’s often only known for tourism. “When you look at the Caribbean, it is no longer just sun, sand and sea; there is a tech tsunami that is coming,” he says. 



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“I am from an island known for pirates. There is a pirate
who was able to withstand the British government for 31 years while the British
government controlled other parts of the Bahamas. He used the Bahamas as his
treasure chest… and that blood is soaked in the soil; that is out of which I am
born. I was raised with these stories of piracy.” 



&nbsp;As Arnett taps into
new knowledge systems, he believes that there is value in ensuring that all
have access to his findings. 



“These artifacts are open to anthropologists,
archaeologists, or to university programs all over the world to come to the
Bahamas and study these objects to draw parallels between other pieces and
artifacts that might be similar to them. Essentially, we are telling the story
of our past in a way that it can be globally accepted and people can own a part
of history.”

Tag: Blue Economy

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