SAN DIEGO -- Local Indian tribes and environmental groups have banded together to protect artifacts submerged along San Diego's coastline, it was reported Wednesday.

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COALITION FORMS TO PREVENT PLUNDERING IMAGES: Underwater Indian Sites Plundered

The new coalition, called the "Western Alliance for Nature," will try to increase the public's awareness of the fact that the relics are being plundered by divers, The San Diego-Union Tribune reported. It also plans to demand stricter oversight by government agencies.

"These relics should not be thought of as collectors' items or museum pieces," said Larry Wan, the founder of the alliance. "They represent the connection to (American Indians') ancestry in a sacred and spiritual way."

Patricia Masters, an undersea archaeologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has found 110 offshore prehistoric sites between San Diego and Santa Barbara.

"Unfortunately, many of these sites no longer exist because the artifacts were removed by uninformed divers," Masters told the newspaper.

Collection of artifacts such as arrowheads and grinding stones off the coast is illegal, Masters said.

A more detailed plan for the alliance will be completed in two months, the newspaper reported.