Tourist attraction Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Esbjerg

Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Esbjerg, Denmark

Sphere of interest: The museum addresses the areas of Danish fisheries offshore activities maritime environment maritime mammels shipping in the west of Jutland and the natural history of the Wadden Sea. Opening hours: Located at No.2 Tarphagevej some 4km northwest of the centre of Esbjerg the museum is open everyday from 10 am to 4 pm with extensions to 5 or 6 pm as daylight permits.
 
Harbour seal cub in the museum's former sealarium (a new was opened in 2013) By 2007 the museum had welcomed six million visitors since its opening but thereafter as a result of a considerable decrease in the number of Germans visiting Denmark it experienced a few difficult years. Today however the museum is once again in good stead thanks to the enthusiasm of its staff and the support of Esbjerg Municipality.

The idea of creating a Danish fisheries museum with an aquarium came from the journalist Hakon Mielche in 1941. In 1962 a planning committee was formed in Esbjerg which soon led to the collection of artefacts. Building began in 1966 allowing the privately owned institution to be opened to the public in 1968. From the start the museum contained a fisheries exhibition and a saltwater aquarium. A sealarium was added in 1976. In 1989 a start was made on an outdoor exhibition which was later extended.

The museum established a research unit in 1994 followed in 2000 by the Centre for Maritime and Regional Studies (Center for Maritime or Regionale Studier) a cooperative venture with the University of Southern Denmark. In 1999 a five storey museum building with almost 2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft) of floor space was inaugurated housing a new permanent exhibition a library storage rooms an archive and offices.

Provision was also made for temporary exhibitions while the educational facilites were modernized. A new saltwater aquarium was installed in 2002 and a new sealarium (exhibit for seals) in 2013 The largest aquarium tank contains 100,000 (26,000 US gal) saltwater and is home to spevies such as cod halibut conger eel gilthead seabream greater spotted dogfish and thornback ray while the sealarium contains 500,000 (130,000 US gal) and is home to grey seal and harbour seal.