Government signs contract for the preparation of the Azores Whaling Heritage Inventory
The President of the Government, through the Regional Directorate for Culture, has signed a contract with the Azores Sea Observatory (OMA) for the preparation of the Inventário do Património Baleeiro dos Açores (Azores Whaling Heritage Inventory).
Headquartered in the Porto Pim Whale Factory in Horta, the OMA is a non-profit, technical, scientific and cultural association which was established in 2002 by 23 founding members linked to the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries of the University of the Azores.
Under the terms of the technical and financial cooperation contract, published in the Official Journal on Monday, the Government is committed to allocate a subsidy in the amount of 29,000 Euros for the preparation of the Inventário do Património Baleeiro dos Açores as well as for the transfer of copyright of this research.
In turn, the OMA is committed to provide the aforementioned inventory, “which will consist of a database and an image bank, using the Access software, whose fields, navigation system and layout will be previously approved by the Regional Directorate for Culture.
The inventory should include beaching places, beaching/hauling ramps for sperm whales, cutting yards, boat houses, areas for melting whales, sperm whale processing plants, whale watch towers, the archaeological sites where sperm whales washed ashore and traditional whaling stations.
Moreover, all immovable assets and sites included in the inventory should contain the location, mapping information, proposed dating/construction context, identification of its historical context, description, references and images.