I was slightly bemused by all the hoo-ha over bods helping themselves top a bag or two of milk powder. police emphasising that it's stealing.
Actually is it really? Have the ancient laws regarding flotsam and salvage claims, disappeared? The right to claim what is washed ashore or abandoned on the high seas gone under a smelly pile of red tape and political correctness?
A dollar to a glass of milk it will all end up in a landfill stinking the place up any-ways..
To me it makes more sense to let people have it for their calves, pigs or what-ever, rather than letting it waste. Insurance covers the loss no doubt.

Wayne C Jessop, Mt Maunganui.

Editor's Note

The short answer is yes, the common belief that floating stuff is ‘fair game' is folklore a century out of date, legally.

However in the case of spilled milk powder, its unlikely the owner, salvor or insurance would be interested in having it back (or press charges.) There are no doubt health hazards that the bureaucrats will howl about, such as toxic oil contamination on packaging, and there's always the chance that some lowlife would try to onsell it to unsuspecting parties. From a purely legal perspective, scavengers would seem to be on the wrong side of the law.

This is from a story by Andrew Campbell we published in the early days of the Rena wrecking:

Tales of flotsam and jetsam and the lore of the sea are just that, says Maritime lawyer Piers Davies.

They are tales from the 18th and 19th centuries and have no place in modern maritime law. Containers that wash ashore from the wreck of the container ship Rena are still someone's property.

'The container itself will belong to a container company, the contents of the containers are people's property,” says Piers.

'The insurer of the container, the insurer of the content of the goods. They do not become the property of anybody else.

'I know this flies in the face of common knowledge but it hasn't been the situation for probably 100 years. But there you are, folk lore continues.”
New Zealand's Maritime Transport Act 1994, sections 105 and 98B are the relevant bits.

Section 105 says if a person finds or takes possession of any wreck, which in section 98B includes shipping containers, they must notify the director of Maritime New Zealand.

If they are not the owner of it they must deliver it to the police or allow police to take possession.

'Then it goes on to say every person commits an offence who without reasonable excuse fails to comply shall in addition forfeit any claim to salvage and shall be liable to pay to the owner of the wreck double the value thereof, to be recovered in the same way as a fine,” says Piers.