TEHRAN –A fishing museum will be established in the city of Paresar in Iran’s Gilan province, which is bounded by the Caspian Sea. 

The museum will be formed under a memorandum of understanding recently signed between the province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department, and Paresar municipality, ILNA reported on Friday. 

The provincial tourism chief Masoud Hallajpour and the mayor of Paresar inked the MOU on Wednesday, the report said. 

The agreement is aimed to help preserve the indigenous culture of the various regions of the northern province by establishing such an institution.

Hallajpour, on the sidelines of the signing ceremony, expressed his hope that establishing such a museum could promote the “culture and art of fishing”, which has been the profession of the people of this region for a long time.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, and the Agricultural Services Specialized Holding Co., which is affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, signed an MOU to establish a caviar museum in the northern province. 

The MOU aimed at facilitating the establishment of the National Caviar Museum in Gilan to contribute to preserve cultural assets as well as deepen bilateral collaborations between the two ministries. 

Developing fisheries tourism, preserving national resources, establishing national and international caviar trade centers, launching sturgeon breeding centers, and holding training courses and educational and recreational tours related to the caviar industry were also among the most important goals of signing the memorandum.

Bounded by the Caspian Sea and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the north, Gilan, in the far past, was within the sphere of influence of the successive Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanid empires that ruled Iran until the 7th century CE.

Sophisticated Rasht, capital of Gilan province, has long been a weekend escape for residents of Tehran who are looking to sample the famous local cuisine and hoping for some pluvial action – it's the largest, and wettest town in the northern region. Gilan is divided into a coastal plain including the large delta of Sefid Rud and adjacent parts of the Alborz mountain range.

ABU/AFM