Visitors to Yeosu will be able to experience life on the coast and in the ocean from next summer, when the city will offer 4D virtual marine environments, an opportunity to board a coastal fishing boat, and an ocean forest revealing the processes of underwater ecosystems.
The Organizing Committee for Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea will spend 2.6 billion won to create two 3,000 square-meter fisheries experience centers: one in Yeosu’s New Port and the other off the coast of Odong Island.
The land-based fisheries experience center to be built on the Expo site in the New Port will expose visitors to both traditional and high-tech fishery methods. Visitors will also have the chance to board a replica of a deep sea tuna fishing vessel. With the help of an aerial simulator and 4D technology that reproduces a typical tuna fishing boat’s journey through high waves to waters in the South Pacific Ocean, those aboard the replica will really feel as if they were fishing tuna. Cold storage where tuna is frozen for storage and processed will also be on display. The center’s outside exhibition areas will feature miniatures of traditional fishing equipment, such as bamboo weirs, highlighting the wisdom of Korean ancestors.
The boat replica follows the design specifications set out by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for a standard 2,000-ton deep sea tuna fishing vessel.
An additional fisheries experience center will be set up on the water near the middle of the breakwall that connects the New Port and Odong Island. Visitors can board a coastal fishing vessel anchored at the dock, steer it with a rudder, and see fishing gear and equipment such as fish finders. A small fish farm will be installed near the boat, where various types of fish such as red sea-breams, sea squirts, and abalone, can be seen.
BMB Construction will build both fisheries experience centers, expected to be fully completed by February of next year.
Moreover, the Organizing Committee – in cooperation with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries – will create an ocean forest near Odong Island. The ocean forest will be located in waters near the fisheries experience center and measure 30 meters in width and 90 meters in length – half the size of a football field. Fences installed underwater in the ocean forest will help to form an aquarium, allowing visitors to view tropical fish and even yellowtail, a big ocean fish species.
Kwon Oh-deok, head of the Maritime and Fisheries Division of the Organizing Committee, explained, “The fisheries experience centers and the ocean forest will give visitors opportunities to experience and better understand the ocean. Through these onsite experience programs, we’ll convey the Expo’s theme, ‘The Living Ocean and Coast,’ and also deliver the message that only when fisheries focusing on catch convert to those managing marine resources can we bring about a sustainable fishery industry.”
* Government press release (June 10)