Section 1 of the act provides for wrecks to be designated because of historical, archaeological or artistic value.

All protected wrecks are listed in the annual Admiralty Notices to Mariners[4] and are marked on United Kingdom Hydrographic Office charts.

A statutory instrument shows the location of the site and also the extent of the restricted protected area.

This is often done using a buoy, (usually yellow and inscribed 'Protected Wreck') although sites that are close to the shore may have notices on land which not only serve to warn, but often also describe why the wreck is important (e.g. on the National Trust path at the Salcombe Moor Sand / Salcombe Cannon site).

There are 46 in English and Welsh waters[8] and there were fifteen in Scottish waters – eight of these were designated under the 1973 Act, whilst the remains of the German High Seas Fleet are protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

On 7 July 1977 the legislature of the overseas territory of the Falkland Islands passed an ordinance similar to the UK Protection of Wrecks Act, allowing for the protection of wrecks in colonial waters that are either of historical, archaeological or artistic importance (section 3), or are dangerous (section 4).

On 20 October 1983, an order was passed under the ordinance, designating the areas around the wrecks of HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope, lying in Falkland Sound and San Carlos Water, respectively as prohibited places under section 4.

The Secretary of State's functions under section 1 of the act, regarding the administration of 'wrecks designated by virtue of historical, archaeological or artistic value' were transferred to the Scottish[11] and Welsh[12] governments as a result of devolution in the United Kingdom.

[15] The administration of 'wrecks designated as dangerous' under section 2 was not devolved and remains a reserved matter as regards Scotland and Wales.