Page 57 - Sjæklen2007

57
Udgravning af vrag på Skallingen april 1966.
of modern Danish fisheries in 1994 and again in 2005, and
the museum is closely monitoring current developments in
fishing. The museum is, however, also a special museum
for West Jutland shipping, and in 1988, the development of
shipping on the island of Fanø came into focus. This fo-
cus has since been extended to shipping in other parts of
the Wadden Sea, especially the northern part. Esbjerg Har-
bour - the biggest harbour on the west coast - has been an
important object of study for the museum with respect to
both its history and its current development. As Esbjerg is
base city for the Danish offshore industry, offshore activi-
ties have also played an important role in the museum’s re-
search activities. In 1994, the museum formed the research
centre, the Centre for Maritime and Regional Studies, and
there followed a series of studies which focused to a higher
degree on the region, the coast and the cultural environment
than on the traditional maritime activities. The museum also
involved itself in a number of projects, partly concerning re-
gional changes across national borders and partly concern-
ing specific aspects of local cultural history, not least the
Wadden Sea.
The Fisheries and Maritime Museum’s focus on research
has meant that the museum has been able to attract external
funding for projects, and has thus been able to extend the
professional environment at the museum. With its two dis-
ciplines - natural history and cultural history - the Fisheries
and Maritime Museum has a sound basis for interdiscipli-
nary partnerships, which in the final analysis should be for
the benefit of and appreciation by the museum’s visitors.