Odyssey Marine has announced its financial results for 2010. See
http://www.tradershuddle.com/20110228175267/globenewswire/Odyssey-Marine-Exploration-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-2010-Financial-Results.html
Anyone who thinks deep sea treasure hunting makes for easy money should note that Odyssey's operating expenses exceeded its revenues by millions of dollars. I'm sure the costs of the Black Swan litigation has not helped Odyssey's bottom line, either.
The archaeological community has been very hostile to Odyssey's business model. On the other hand, should wrecks really be left to rot while we wait for cash-strapped governments to fund multi-million dollar deep sea archaeological explorations?
It seems to me that the private-public partnerships that Odyssey has entered into with the United Kingdom are better suited to achieving the proper balance between commercial exploitation and archaeological study. Say what you will, but there is real exploration going on now, rather than some day that will likely never come.