|
The earliest record of whale hunting in Korea dates back 5,000-6,000 years. Up to the mid-1980s whale hunting was legal and it was easy to spot whaling vessels off the shores of Ulsan. To commemorate the long history of whaling in Korea, plans are underway to build a museum which will give visitors an idea of how whales were caught in the past.
The museum is expected to be completed in a year's time at a compound of 3,500 sq.m nearby Ulsan's research center for whales. It will showcase whale hunting equipment from the days of old and even a reconstruction of a place where whales were cut up into pieces.
The museum is also expected to have an aquarium for dolphins. The construction of the tunnel-like aquarium has never been tried before in Korea and is expected to provide visitors quite a sight since the tunnel will pass through the entire building.
Another highlight of the museum will be handwritten records by Roy Chapman Andrews, a famous American explorer and paleontologist and the model for the movie character Indiana Jones.
The American explorer apparently visited Ulsan back in 1912 to search for gray whales of the East Sea. His research records the migration of what he later dubbed the Korean Gray Whale, presently an endangered species.
Korean Gray Whales disappeared from the East Sea after 1977 and Ulsan's research center for whales has put up prize money of over US$9,000 for anybody who catches this rare mammal.
Arirang News
|
