The German Oceanographic Museum (german: Deutsche Meeresmuseum), also called the Museum for Oceanography and Fisheries, Aquarium (german: Museum für Meereskunde und Fischerei, Aquarium, links=no), in the Hanseatic town of Stralsund, is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

in which maritime and oceanographic exhibitions are displayed. It is the most visited museum in North Germany. In addition to the main museum building, the actual Oceanographic Museum, there are three other sites, the

Ozeaneum Ozeaneum is a public aquarium in the German city of Stralsund. It is a main attraction of the German Oceanographic Museum (''Deutsches Meeresmuseum''), arguably one of the three largest institutions of its kind in Europe. The Ozeaneum — loca ...

, opened in July 2008, the Nautineum and the Natureum. The main house is located in the hall of the former St. Catherine's Church. The Oceanographic Museum has many exhibitions with information on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

and

marine conservation Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is i ...

, on marine and ocean research,

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

region, and, just under 50 aquaria contain more than 600 living sea creatures, including

giant tortoise Giant tortoises are any of several species of various large land tortoises, which include a number of extinct species, as well as two extant species with multiple subspecies formerly common on the islands of the western Indian Ocean and on the ...

s and

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

n fish. In the Ozeaneum, which opened on 11 July 2008 on Stralsund's harbour island, there are 39 large aquaria with 7,000 animals from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

and

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, as well as the world's largest exhibition of

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s. The Nautineum on the island of

Dänholm Dänholm (literally ''Danes' Isle'') is a small island on the German coast of the Baltic Sea. It is situated in the Strelasund just east of Stralsund. Both bridges linking Rügen with the mainland, Rügendamm and Rügenbrücke, run across it. ...

has exhibitions on the topics of fishing, marine research, whale research, hydrography and sea routes. The focal point of the Natureum on the

Darß The Darß or Darss is the middle part of the peninsula of Fischland-Darß-Zingst on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The peninsula's name is of Slavic origin. There is a large forest in the ...

peninsula is nature and the landscape of the peninsula.

History

The museum was founded in 1951 as the Natural History Museum, by Prof. Otto Dibbelt. Starting in 1956 under the leadership of Dr. Sonnfried Streicher, it was continuously development. It current director is Dr. Harald Benke. After an extension of the exhibition theme to oceanography, in 1966 the museum was renamed the Oceanographic Museum and, in 1974, it was renamed the Museum of Oceanography and Fisheries of the GDR. Between 1989 and 1990, the construction of the museum café and museum shop was undertaken and the expansion of the aquarium wing started in 1988 completed. The permanent exhibition, "Man and the Sea", was continued and public relations enhanced. The museum participated in the construction of the

Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park The Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park
at www.naturefund.de. Ac ...

with an exhibition centre in the lighthouse complex of Darßer Ort, later Natureum Darßer Ort. The whale exhibition was redesigned. On the island of

Oie The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), formerly the (OIE), is an intergovernmental organization coordinating, supporting and promoting animal disease control. Mission and status The main objective of the WOAH is to control epizoo ...

the DMM station has been expanded. A quarantine facility for tropical marine life and a filter system for the cold water area were completed as well as a 6,000-litre aquarium with live coral and other marine invertebrates. In 1991, the museum café and shop were opened and the expansion of the collections reaches more than 800 objects. The extension wing was completed in 1992. In the same year an aquarium for tropical marine fish was handed over. The museum building was opened in honour of

Hermann Burmeister Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (also known as Carlos Germán Conrado Burmeister) (15 January 1807 – 2 May 1892) was a German Argentine zoologist, entomologist, herpetologist, botanist, and coleopterologist. He served as a professor at the Uni ...

. In 1994, the hitherto town-owned museum was turned into a foundation under civil law. In 1996, the vessel "Adolf Reichwein" was restored in the museum courtyard. Also restored were the Baltic Sea walking tour the museum shop. The North Sea Aquarium was closed to begin the renovation of that department.

Literature

* ''Deutsches Meeresmuseum Stralsund – Museumsführer''. published by the Deutsches Meeresmuseum Stralsund, 2004. * ''Meeresaquarium Stralsund''. published by the Deutsches Meeresmuseum Stralsund. * Karl-Heinz Tschiesche: ''Seepferdchen, Kugelfisch und Krake.'' 2005, .

References

External links

* {{Zoos of Germany Aquaria in Germany History of fishing Maritime museums in Germany Museums in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Natural history museums in Germany Stralsund Articles needing infobox zoo