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Traditional Maritime Skills (TMS)
Traditional Maritime Skills
(TMS)
Start date: Jun 30, 2009,
End date: Dec 29, 2012
PROJECT
FINISHED
The TMS partnerships purpose is to preserve traditional boatbuilding skills in the 2 Seas programme area for the long term, by collecting and recording these skills, promoting their use in traditional and modern boatbuilding and increasing the number of people pursuing education and a career in boat building.The partners brought together their different experiences, specifically to record and benefit from the preservation of boatbuilding skills in the 2 Seas area, and to take advantage of their potential for the development of the zone. The partners will jointly record traditional boatbuilding skills from the remaining experts in all four countries of the 2 Seas programme area. The crossborder promotion scheme will advocate the potential contribution of traditional boat building skills to the socio-economic development of the participating regions. The partners will also develop a flexible training framework for transferring the recorded traditional boatbuilding skills that can be implemented by relevant educational institutes in different countries. Achievements: What were the key results of the project?We delivered a comprehensive record describing, in detail, all relevant traditional boat building skills following the Functional Analysis approach. These skills were documented in writing, supported with audiovisual means, such as videos, photos and CAD drawings. The individual skills are accessible via an excellent Virtual Learning Environment. The promotion of our project could only start in the last phase of the project, because we first needed to publish at least 20 of the 89 skills on the website, including all material and translations. Before we could actively promote the project many people were interested and wanted to be informed through newsletters and the website. Once we started promoting the project on conferences, boat shows and schools, the reactions became overwhelming. Several schools and industry stakeholders have indicated that they will use the training program.On top of this, thousands of people per month are accessing the skills online and there are very positive testimonials from within the industry. The project has been far-reaching beyond the 2 Seas area and other organisations invited the project to participate in their activities or wanting to take part in TMS. All in all, it has created momentum for future maritime heritage projects.Did all partners and territories benefit from the results?Not only the partners, but the whole 2 seas area and even beyond benefit from the results. Regional and local authorities responsible for (maritime) cultural heritage policies and economic development policies wanting to preserve their heritage and investing in life long learning benefit from all results. Others benefit from the free accessibility of the training program and virtual learning environment. These include institutes for maritime training and education, organisations involved in maintenance and preservation of historical ships, organisations representing (segments) of shipbuilding and organisations responsible for workforce development (employment, guidance towards education and skills development, labour market communication). In the long term historic ship enthusiasts (users and spectators) benefit through the secured availability of well maintained historic ships and enterprises in boatbuilding and the marine industries, through the enlarged availability of well qualified, multi-skilled boatbuilding professionals. Workers in the boatbuilding industry benefit by up-skilling and better employment opportunities and employment seekers choosing a career in boatbuilding. Benefits are well recognised throughout and beyond the regions involved due to extensive use of the internet and social media tools. Project partners received invitations to present the project's activities from all over the world. The project reached beyond the regions involved due to extensive use of the internet and social media tools.What were the effects / outcomes for the territories involved?The effects of the projects are better training opportunities and better skilled personal thanks to the availability of greater skills. This creates not only opportunities to start businesses, but also opportunities to train staff and new jobs. Maritime heritage is widely knows as driving force in (blue) tourism. The free distribution of knowledge enables more businesses to maintain and preserve the historic ships virtual industry, raising awareness about cultural and economic importance of the industry. Further to these outcomes the project delivered support for sustainable boat manufacturing, increasing opportunities for volunteers to learn skills and support boat restoration projects.