Barbate Tuna Museum

La Chanca Salpesca is a company that since 1983 has been producing salted, semi-preserved and canned fish it is the creator of the Barbate Tuna Museum, where the aim is to create a visitor centre to promote traditional methods for fishing and the transformation of bluefin tuna for the benefit of future generations.

The objective of the Barbate Tuna Museum is to create a tour which will immerse visitors in the exciting activity surrounding the capture and transformation of an authentic jewel of the sea: "the Almadraba bluefin tuna." And this involves all five senses. At the entrance there will be a display showing the fascinating world of the tuna through 3,000 years of history from Phoenicians, Romans, Moors and the Middle Ages right up to the present.

You will be delighted with what you hear and what you see when you enter an area that simulates the sea bed, and the audio-visual effects will bring to life replicas of ruins, sunken ships and Almadraba tuna nets.

Next comes a copy of a "chanca" (an old workroom) from the 1950s where the fishermen in Barbate used to transform the fish they captured. The purpose of this area is for visitors to interact (learning about sea salt, cutting up the tuna into its different parts, etc.) and where the sense of touch will transport them back to that time.

Then there is a reproduction of the factory in the form of a gigantic model, which shows how production is undertaken today. Immediately after comes an area where there are live demonstrations of tuna being cut up, this activity is known as "Ronqueo".

And the tour of the Barbate Tuna Museum ends in an exhibition room-shop where you can taste some of the products made here. At this point your sense of smell and taste will really thank you for making the tour.