Good practice:

La Nau project: Safeguard of traditional vessels in Mallorca

The Associació d’Amics del Museu Marítim de Mallorca (AAMMM) realized that between 1990 and 2000 the disappearance of vessels for professional fishing was increasing disproportionally. This disappearance was caused by the cessation of professional activity and also by subsidies granted by the EU, which require fishermen to complete scrapping of vessels to apply for a grant according to EU regulations.
The first action to amend this regulation came from the joint proposal of the autonomous regions of Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia who organised a signature campaign. This initiative made possible the donation of the vessel to NGO’s as an alternative to scrapping.
For that reason, in 2002 the AAMMM launched La Nau project to save from scrapping traditional vessels built by shipbuilders from Mallorca.
They started by saving five traditional vessels (Llaüts). These vessels went through a museum selection criterion.
The project had the support of Balearic Government, Directorate-General for Fisheries who gave them information on potential vessels destined for scrap and helped them with administrative issues. Consell de Mallorca has collaborated by restoring three vessels in its traditional shipbuilders’ workshop.
Until now, 25 vessels of various types donated by private owners have been saved. This has led to a collection of different types of existing traditional vessels in Mallorca. This collection is stored at the caves located in Bellver Castle (Palma).

The sole funding of the association is the membership fee of its 250 members. Fifteen volunteers carry out management and paperwork tasks and transport of vessels.
The City Council of Palma provided the facilities free of charge called Coves de Bellver to store and preserve the vessels.

25 vessels (dated between 1934 and 1983) have been saved from scrapping, avoiding the loss of heritage.
Consell de Mallorca restored three of the rescued vessels. One of them has been donated to an NGO to promote traditional vessels to the general public. The other two are exhibited at the Maritime Museum of Mallorca.
The AAMMM will give all remaining boats to the Maritime Museum of Mallorca. The Museum will exhibit or use them once restored.
The association continues to receive donations.

To convince the vessel owner of the need to avoid scrapping and administrative hurdles and limited funding are the main difficulties.
As the number of donated vessels increased, they needed adequate and large facilities to store them. Palma City Council provided the facilities free of charge.

This good practice can be transferred to other European regions linked to the fishing sector that share the loss of heritage. Its implementation has a low level of difficulty, and it can be carried out either by NGO’s, public administrations or any other type of entity.
The citizen’s initiative or sense of association can be a powerful engine to launch actions addressed to preserve and promote the cultural heritage linked to fishing communities. In this specific case, it has resulted in a project to safeguard traditional fishing vessels, but it can also be applied to both material and immaterial heritage elements.
One of the project keys to the success is the collaboration and involvement of competent authorities and fishing guilds, who have information on potential deregisters.
Dissemination in media and social networks is essential to make known the maritime heritage and raise awareness among the population on the need to protect and safeguard it.