Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-08-05

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Museum of Marine Tradition, Sponge Fishing on Limnos

[01] Museum of Marine Tradition, Sponge Fishing on Limnos

In 1926 refugees from Koutali founded Nea Koutali on Limnos and engaged in sponge fishing and fish processing. The 1980s witnessed a recession in the sponge fishing sector, with the centuries-old tradition eventually abandoned.

The museum features three sections, the first focuses on the marine life of the people of the isle of Koutali -- modern-day Ekinlik -- before they were forced to leave their ancestral home following the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey in the early 1920s, hosting heirlooms and archival photographs from their old homeland.

The second section presents sponge fishing and treatment in Nea Koutali on Limnos. Among the exhibits are equipment used by the divers, sponge-fishing boat tools, different kinds of sponges, processing tools and sponge packaging equipment.

The museum's third section hosts archaeological finds discovered by the sponge divers at the bottom of the sea. The collection dates back to the '50s and '60s and constitutes an initiative by the then headmaster of the local elementary school. It includes a large number of urns, ceramic utensils, components of antique anchors and other small objects from ancient shipwrecks.

The museum became a reality within the framework of the Leader+ European Union initiative.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo.

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