Alex Trelinski
THE first museum solely dedicated to Murcia’s Mar Menor lagoon will showcase the area’s fishing industry in a disused air force building in Los Alcazares.
One of the buildings on the former seaplane base in the town which acted as a mess hall in the early 20th century will be converted.
Los Alcazares council will pay for the improvements including eliminating damp and repainting the building plus installing a new fence and security cameras as the rest of the area is still owned by the military.
The building is over 100 years old with Los Alcazares mayor, Mario Perez Cervera, hopeful that other structures on the site will be ceded by the air force for ‘educational, cultural and environmental functions’.
“The old mess hall will be the first interpretation centre for the Mar Menor allowing tourists to get to know the area better,” said Perez Cervera.
The new Museum’s collection will feature the collection of Francisco Javier Olmos who spent his life researching and compiling the history of Mar Menor fishing traditions.
Old fishing gear and tools used for decades in the lagoon will be displayed as well
Francisco Javier Olmos said: “This Mar Menor centre will be start of creating a workshop of pieces which visitors can see and ask questions about.”
“There will be riverside carpentry tools, from mallets to irons, as well as fishing pots and lines, in addition to other equipment used by fishermen which all be restored to their former glory,” he added.
