Activities & Events -- NAUSICAA
Centre National de la Mer
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Introduction NAUSICAA Sea Experience Centre NAUSICAA, located in boulogne-sur-Mer, France, is far more than just a normal aquarium. It is the largest sea experience museum in Europe and the only marine-discovery complex in the region for the general public, the fishing industry, maritime professionals, researchers and scientists. The main goal of NAUSICAA is to sensitize the public to a sustainable use of the sea-not only marine species, their various habitats and their living habits-but also its resources so that man can still benefit from this wonderful gift of nature and live to enjoy and preserve the sea for the future of our children. |
- 11,000 sea animals
- 4 million liters of sea water and very large tanks
- 45,000 liters of water in the diamond-shaped, glass and steel, tuna bank
- 600,000 liters of water in the selachian pool where 11 large sharks and thousands of bream are brought together (public view from inside a glass dome)
- 1 million liters of sea water for sea lions
- 800,000 liters for the open-sea tank
- 600,000 liters of sea water for the tropical lagoon, opposite the open tank
New developments
NAUSICAA is currently expanding its facilities at a cost of 85 million French francs. The new extension will double the surface area of France’s 5th most visited tourist attraction and will triple the current amount of water held in tanks (4 million liters). Opening at the end of May 1998, the new Centre should welcome an additional 250,00 visitors per year, totaling 850,000 visitors annually. Over 4 million visitors have already visited NAUSICAA since it opened 6 years ago.
Attractions
But what NAUSICAA is most interested in is to sensitize the public to a better management of the sea. The public travel through the different seas of the world, from the tropics to the cold water of the North sea discovering the activities of men : such as fishing and breeding farms. The visitor also becomes a tourist on a Pacific Island resort, he is completely engulfed by underwater life. The area recreates a paradise resort with its lagoon and corals, while entertaining and educating visitors of all ages about sea life in the tropics. It also demonstrates how human beings can effectively manage the sea while enjoying it at the same time.
The visitor then enters a 25 m dome presenting various aspects of the exploitation of the sea on a gigantic semi-spherical screen.
The area continues to an open-air marine reserve where visitors come face to face with lively Californian sea lions, then culminates in an underwater observatory suspended under cliffs. This is a further example which demonstrates that it is never too late to make efforts forwards preserving the sea and its inhabitants. This marine reserve will be an intergovernmental project dealing with the protection of sea lions. All these sea lions have been bred in different centres in order not to impoverish their natural environment.
The visitor really enjoys the sea when he comes not just to witness the sea but to experience it in stroking fish in the touch tank with its cuddly skates!
The visit ends in a big dome like aquarium with 12 large sharks, a reminder to us to treat these creatures of the deep with humanity and respect.