Introduction

The Black Sea is an intercontinental sea, with its borders shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and Turkey. It joins the waters with the Marmara Sea through the Bosphorus. On its western coast, a small town named Anchialos was established around the fifth century B.C. Today, the same town, newly renamed Pomorie in the last century, continues to preserve and present to its visitors many parts of its long history and traditions.

Traditional fishing is one of the old livelihoods in the town, rooted in its identity and legacy. Today, often practised with small traditional boats, fishing is considered hard to learn, dangerous and unpredictable. However, many local people chose it due to different reasons:

“People were either too poor or too crazy about the sea to choose this path. There was something, however, that made you start and never stop going into the sea.” – Yanko Prodromov, fisherman of Pomorie.

Traditional fishing in Pomorie can be defined as one of the cultural heritages of the city and region. As intangible cultural heritage, according to UNESCO, fishing can be classified in the domain of “Social practices, rituals and festive events,” which shape the daily life of its community and support the preservation of its identity and its connection to the past. Additionally, because of the broad knowledge of fishermen about the flora and fauna, their orientation skills, and their collective understanding of the sea, it can partly join the domain of “Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe,” as the different domains of ICH are clearly defined.

On the other hand, fishermen have a strong community that stretches along the Black Sea coast. They learn from each other, constantly exchanging various information. They say fishing can’t be mastered, as there is always something to change, which brings fishermen back to try adapting to it by applying different skills or improving their techniques and knowledge.

In 2023, a Visitor Centre for Fishing and Maritime Affairs was established in a newly renovated water and managed by the Historical Museum of Pomorie. According to the museum’s vision, it preserves and presents the history and memories of fishing as a livelihood of the town.

Problem Statement

The Black Sea borders Bulgaria to the east and provides a significant amount of resources for the country’s eastern side, defining the different sectors of development and labour. However, in recent years, due to various factors, including climate change, overbuilding, overfishing, poaching, and water pollution, the sea and its ecosystem have undergone significant changes, affecting each sector on different levels.

Fishing faces the challenge of constant changes due to its dependence on the sea and nature. Traditional fishing, as part of it, is declining. Even though this type of fishing with small boats is considered more sustainable because fishermen don’t catch fish in large masses and destroy the seabed, as can happen with trawlers, the livelihood is unpredictable, hard to learn and practice, and restricted by various reasons and government regulations.

Fishermen grow old, and a new generation is missing. Their diverse knowledge, wisdom, skills and experience are a significant part of the identity of many small towns and cities alongside the Black Sea. Only the fishermen can bring some of the past practices back to life, and with their shrinking community, some of these unique techniques and activities would be lost, which would affect the legacy of the coastal towns and their people. That’s why it is essential to incorporate traditional fishing as an active livelihood into the town’s cultural heritage preservation plans, as it is an inseparable part of the town's heritage.

Research and Design questions

Research Question: How to preserve traditional fishing as cultural heritage and its story amid constantly changing ecological and social conditions?

Design Question: How to better inform people about traditional fishing as an old livelihood in Pomorie, and make them interested in it?

Methodology

During this research, I applied the Double Diamond framework to describe my process, filling it with steps, as well as methods from participative design methodology, as I worked at the beginning with my main stakeholders actively – the museum staff and the fishermen’s community. Later, a Research-For-Design approach was adopted to create an outcome that follows the needs and wishes of the stakeholders. However, my work is not purely based on it, as I combined various methods.

Findings

To gain more insights about traditional fishing, the Black Sea, the region, and the local communities, many research activities were organised and conducted – visitor observation at the Visitor Centre for Fishing and Maritime Affairs, interviews with museum staff and fishermen from Pomorie, and a workshop with my main stakeholders.

The collected data and summaries were combined and supported by a conducted literature review. As the main location of my study is a Visitor Centre – a cultural institution, managed by a museum, I have to define today’s museums and their role in society. In museums, visitors are allowed to unleash their curiosity and explore various-looking objects with their own aesthetic, functionality, and stories. This institution is highly trusted by society and needs to take responsibility, making clear decisions about how to present particular themes and uncover the hidden sides of the artefacts, improving their accessibility to visitors.

Back in the Visitor Centre, the team of museum workers responsible for curating the space has already achieved meaningful results that can serve as a base for further development. They are supported by a fisherman, whom they hired to work in the water tower and give tours.

During the interview sessions and the workshop, it was found that the museum worker and the fisherman can collaborate well to propose and discuss various ideas, building on their different mindsets and experiences.

Furthermore, from the interviews with the three fishermen I talked to, the participants showed interest. They underlined the importance of the Visitor Centre and its mission to present the story of their livelihood. The hired fisherman, who works as a museum employee during the summer season, expressed a personal motivation to improve the space. That can be a sign of bigger interest from the fishermen’s community. With his presence, he brings the fishing tradition closer to the visitors, and through his stories and contributions to the Visitor Centre, he fosters a sense of authenticity and belonging. The question arises of how to strengthen the bond between the institution and the community, which may lead to the possibility of further collaboration.

Museums around the world

Two types of museums were researched and compared: open-air museums and heritage museums, as they preserve living heritage and many of them actively present crafts and livelihoods to their visitors.

Open-air museums are defined by their outside exhibition. Their focus can vary, depending on their location, mission, and vision, but the majority work to introduce and preserve the local or country’s heritage, including traditions, clothing, crafts, historical buildings or sites, activities, and many more.

On the other hand, a heritage museum can be defined as “a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage” (International Council of Museums, n.d.). I selected museums located near the sea or ocean that work to safeguard the fishing practices and maritime heritage of their region, actively engaging with diverse communities of fishermen, seafarers, and other institutions.

After an initial inside comparison with self-created criteria groups, I conduct a second comparison, which aims to highlight the differences and similarities between open-air and heritage museums and provide successful ideas for preservation strategies.

Aside from differences, there are many similarities in their values, mission and vision, as well as in their presentation of themes, periods of time, craftsmen, or memories. All museums include a preservation of at least one tradition, relying heavily on storytelling and offering an immersive experience. All museums reflect on history and memories, but only some open-air museums introduce particular groups of communities that existed during a specific period of time, while heritage museums usually present their communities of practice or showcase artefacts related to them.

Additionally, both museums often include guided tours, educational programs or various events for different groups of people in their offers, sometimes engaging actively with local communities or inviting specialists or craftsmen.

What can be done?

Based on my previous findings and comparison between the museums, I have concluded that an active approach, which involves other stakeholders, is necessary for the preservation of cultural heritage in its various forms.

At this step, I read a book called “The Participatory Museum” (2010) by Nina Simon. It introduced me to the concept of museums, where visitor participation is supported fully on various levels. This allows the museum to open its doors and turn itself into a social location, while following its mission and vision.

In the book, Simon (2010) describes four models that define different participation types in a cultural institution: contribution, collaboration, co-creation, and hosted. All of them have their own specifics, such as the staff support, roles, shared goals, mutual trust, task division, creativity and constraints among the participants and the institution. At this point, I believe these models can serve as a strong basis for my outcome.

Design

Ideation

A concept was developed in the form of a ‘recipe’ book for possible programs, projects, and events that the Historical Museum of Pomorie, responsible for managing the Visitor Centre, can choose from. It is important to mention that staff have the freedom to change, mix and develop new activities from the proposed ‘recipe’ ideas. With this booklet, I want to kindly invite the museum staff to think, plan, act and reflect.

The four defined models by Simon (2010) served as the basis for four section groups, where activity ideas are collected and created. However, I decided to ‘smooth’ them, constraining their idea of full participation, as I want to offer a closer solution to the museum’s vision in Pomorie and to the present situation of the Visitor Centre. Both institutions are established and managed according to a museum model with little to no participation. A gentle, non-intrusive invitation that considers the stakeholder’s comfort, but with a potential for change, provides the institution useful set of activities.

Inspirations

The offered concepts of activities, such as events and programs, which I call ‘recipes’, are inspired, on one hand, by my previous research on heritage museums, as I combined them with the four models, defined by Simon (2010) and additional examples, provided by the same author, for museums that organised mindful participation experiences for their visitors or communities of individuals.

Not only is the name ‘recipes’ borrowed from the culinary world. Various classical cookbooks, their structure and layout, as well as their recipe components, serve as inspiration for the final look of the outcome.

The Museum Cookbook for Community Engagement

This is the name of the outcome that provides a series of activities with various participation levels and invites different communities, groups, and individuals to collaborate, create and develop with the main goal of strengthening the relationship between townspeople and the cultural institution. Moreover, it introduces the Visitor Centre for Fishing and Maritime Affairs as a social community space, which works to preserve a part of their town’s identity.

With the application of a colour code of four different colours, a clear division between the four main sections was completed.

Reflection

Through the proposed set of activities, I hope to motivate the staff to incorporate some of them into their upcoming events for the next summer season and develop their own that relate closely to their vision.

Conclusion

Due to many ecological and social concerns, traditional fishing is under threat of disappearing. As a livelihood with a rich history, it has a united community of practitioners, located along the whole Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

The Visitor Centre for Fishing and Maritime Affairs opened its doors with the mission to preserve and present its history and fishermen’s memories. On the other hand, fishing is also an active livelihood, which is practised today. This component is also part of the cultural heritage, which deserves to be preserved.

In conclusion to this study, these small ideas for joint activities offer a cultural institution a chance to invite local groups of townspeople, establishing a further relationship with them through collaboration with shared goals, which can help them contribute to the preservation of their hometown’s cultural heritage and legacy.

References

Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe—UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2025, from https://ich.unesco.org/en/knowledge-concerning-nature-00056

Museum Definition. (n.d.). International Council of Museums. Retrieved December 25, 2025, from https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/

Read Online – The Participatory Museum. (2010). Retrieved November 24, 2025, from https://participatorymuseum.org/read/

Social practices, rituals and festive events—UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2025, from https://ich.unesco.org/en/social-practices-rituals-and-00055

Photo references

Dimitrov, B. (2006). The main part of the town and the several small beaches in foreground. The port of Pomorie in background, to the left. [Graphic]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Town_of_Pomorie_aerial_Boby_Dimitrov.jpg

Important: Some photographs are provided by the Historical Museum of Pomorie. They are used with the institution's consent.

The Museum Cookbook for Community Engagement

Here, I provide my final version of the booklet with all activities. For everyone interested, you can check it out :)

PS. Of course, if you ever travel to the Bulgarian seaside, feel invited to visit Pomorie and discover every hidden corner. The Visitor Centre for Fishing and Maritime Affairs is one of the town's newest cultural locations - hidden in the Old Town. Hopefully, I can meet some of you there :)