“Museums are all about our history; they show what has been. We look at the present and the future. We move with the times”, says Irene Nygård Alvheim. As the front desk manager at the Norwegian Fisheries Museum, she is responsible for Storeblå.
Storeblå is a collaboration project owned by Lerøy and operated by the Norwegian Fisheries Museum. As well as Storeblå in Bergen, Lerøy has two other visitor centres, the Ægir Coastal Museum on the island of Hitra and Aurora Salmon Center on Skjervøy.
Read more: The exhibition centres
“It is all about spreading knowledge” is the response of Øyvind Hagerup Reinshol, an educator at the Storeblå visitor centre and the Norwegian Fisheries Museum, when asked what a visitor centre is.
Regardless of whether someone is in favour of aquaculture or against it, when they leave the visitor centre they should possess more factual information, and maybe some myths they believed about the industry will have been busted.
“It is fine to oppose aquaculture, but people should do so on an informed basis and for the right reasons”, says Sune Leick Jepsen, an educator at the Storeblå visitor centre and Norwegian Fisheries Museum.
Various educational activities
Around half of Storeblå’s resources go towards educational activities. There is one programme for school classes up to year 8. Their day is split between the Norwegian Fisheries Museum and Storeblå. At the museum they play the interactive edutainment game Fin City and watch a film about fishers. At Storeblå they explore life in the ocean and finish off their visit in the learning space on the first floor, where they dissect a salmon or trout.
For many of the children, this is their first encounter with a whole fish and its anatomy. Sune explains that many of the pupils have never seen a whole salmon before, and that some of them are shocked that the fish in front of them is the same as the one you buy in shops.
“They have a concept of what a fish is, but actually holding one is completely new to them. Some teachers report back that they have never before seen some of their pupils so interested in something. They say their pupils have blossomed”, says Øyvind.
“One of the things that we get most positive feedback for is that the pupils are allowed to do things themselves. It is important for them to have a chance to develop their interest”, says Sune.
Interdisciplinary aquaculture
For school classes from year 9 and up, the day starts with a boat trip by RIB out to one of Lerøy Vest’s farms where they get to wander around the fish cages and see the fish while the educators explain the process.
“Since we give the tour, rather than Lerøy, we can come and go without it disturbing their operations too much”, says Øyvind.
Afterwards they return to Storeblå, where they dissect a salmon or trout and finish the day off with the digital audiovisual exhibition, which focuses on fish anatomy and fish welfare.
“You learn so much about an incredible range of topics through the exhibition. I think the overall experience is completely unique”, says Irene.
She is full of praise for her colleagues who have managed to condense the information and create such a good exhibition.
“We receive positive feedback about the information being open and honest. People will see through it if it isn’t honest”, says Øyvind.
“All of the information is available online, so you can go and read everything about the aquaculture industry if you want to. Few industries are as transparent as the aquaculture industry, if you know where to look”, says Sune.
Popular offering
Time has been set aside for the educational programme three days a week, but they are often fully booked several months in advance.
“We offer high quality and low quantity, but word is spreading, so school groups often have to go on a waiting list. What happens a lot is that if a teacher finds out about the activities, the whole year group ends up coming”, says Øyvind.
But the visitor centre isn’t just open to school groups. The exhibition at Storeblå is open every day from 11:00 to 15:00, and you can even book a boat trip by RIB. It is mainly tourists who choose to do that, and over the course of 2022, around twenty different countries were represented.
“We normally ask people why they wanted to do the boat trip. Some of them have heard about aquaculture, others have seen the cages; some may have read that their salmon fillets come from Norway, while others just want to learn more. And then some are just interested in fish and aquaculture in general”, says Sune.
If you would like to learn more about the aquaculture, you will find Storeblå in Bergen. Lerøy also has the visitor centres Ægir Coastal Museum on the island of Hitra and the Aurora Salmon Center on Skjervøy.
