AIS and treasure hunters

The BBC reports that the Spanish authorities have just detained a salvage vessel owned or operated by Odyssey Marine (a treasure-hunting company whose claims to ownership in the recent recovery of a huge treasure-haul from a wreck identified only as the "Black Swan" are now being disputed in a US court), the Odyssey Explorer, when leaving Gibraltar.

Doesn't the AIS apply to such "salvage vessels" anyway? Perhaps the information the Spanish are looking for already exists on a database somewhere? If the AIS was switched off, or is switched off again in the future on similar treasure-hunters, would Spain (or anyone else) have the right "to shoot first and ask questions of any survivors later" in true post 9/11 spirit...?!