Sustainability takes centre stage in the debate on the surf industry at the fourth edition of the Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum.

• The need to give impetus to the industry without losing sight of respect for the environment has been the common point of all the presentations and round tables of the morning session of the Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Friday 7 October 2022-. Business development opportunities, new sources of employment, engineering at the service of the waves, wave protection, diversity, inclusion, sporting events, communication, fashion and sustainability linked to surfing are the main protagonists of the debate at the fourth edition of the Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum.

Promoted and financed by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and organised by Infecar, this space is dedicated on this occasion to the ‘Surf Industry. Challenges and opportunities’, delving into the potential of this sector of the blue economy, beyond being a tourist destination, with a focus on diversification, sustainability, the use of local resources and talent.

Thus, the president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, inaugurated this fourth edition of the Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum, a “space in which the challenges and opportunities of the blue economy in Gran Canaria are debated, giving visibility to the emerging sectors within the blue economy and promoting the potential of Gran Canaria as a marine-maritime hub. Biomarine, renewable energies and digitalisation in port environments are topics that have been addressed in previous editions and that today give way to surfing and its industry”.

Morales stressed that “53.1% of visitors who choose Gran Canaria as a destination do so by sea; 6.7% of them hire services related to sports activities and, specifically, 3.6% related to surfing”. In this sense, the president of the Cabildo also highlighted the values that promote sports such as surfing: “this is an activity that has always been linked to marine protection, sustainability and care for the environment, which undoubtedly fits perfectly with the concept of eco-island that we defend from this corporation”.
After this inauguration, the Councillor for the City of the Sea of the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, José Eduardo Ramírez, opened the round of speeches at this Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum, with a presentation on ‘The strategy for blue growth in beach activities’.

Ramírez reviewed the last few years of the council, since 2011, when it made a 180-degree turn to look entirely to the sea with the creation of the City of the Sea council. “Since then, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been looking to the sea, combining the vision of economic development and coastal management,” he said.

Boosting the economy

Euken Sese, advisor and former director of the Sociedad de Fomento de San Sebastián (Basque Country), took over from José Eduardo Ramírez to explain how surfing has been a lever for economic development in Donostia. Sese explained how the Biscayan city has been able to develop its economy around surfing, with companies that are national benchmarks in the industry linked to sliding sports and positioning itself as a benchmark tourist destination for this activity.

For his part, Guillermo Quintana, a technician at the Society for the Economic Promotion of Gran Canaria (Spegc), explained the ‘Development opportunities in Gran Canaria for companies linked to the blue economy’ which, among others, have tax advantages for their establishment on the island.
This first part of the day was closed by Fernando Odriozola, founder and commercial director of Wavegarden. In a talk entitled ‘Engineering at the service of waves’, Odriozola explained how and why Wavegarden, the world leader in artificial wave generation systems, was born.

“We faithfully believe that the sea is still the best medium, but the reality is that there are not enough waves for so many people who want to surf,” said Odriozola, who also said that “Wavegarden already has two projects with financial commitments to set up in the Canary Islands, and one of the two will be in Gran Canaria”.

Employment, diversity, events and future
The second block of the morning of this Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum consisted of four round tables in which employment, diversity, sporting events and the future of surfing were the focus of attention.

On the subject of ‘Diversity and inclusion’, world runner-up surfer Óscar Pérez and Miguel Ángel Déniz, territorial president of Canarias ONCE, spoke. Both explained that Gran Canaria has the conditions to become a benchmark as a destination for adapted surfing. In his case, Pérez pointed out that “there are many of us people with special abilities who need the institutions to get involved so that we all have access to the sea and the waves”.

Sergio San Román, manager of the Association of Surf Schools of Gran Canaria; Adur Letamendía, from Pukas; and Sergi Galanó, from Flamasurf, commented on ‘The new employment opportunities in surfing’, each from their own fields of action. Letamendía and Galanó, as heads of surfboard manufacturing companies, and San Román, as representative of a notable group of schools, addressed the need to promote the development of initiatives that have sustainability as a common link.

“The profit margins in our activity are very low because we must not forget that we are talking about craftsmanship. The work that shapers do is entirely manual, far removed from the industrial processes we are used to nowadays”, added Galanó.

For his part, Máximo Tavío, from El Frontón King, and José Fernández, from Las Américas Pro, addressed the importance of holding major sporting events, world competitions that promote the internationalisation of the sport and the territory that hosts them, explaining the specific cases of Gáldar and Arona, with two championships that are benchmarks on the international calendar.

The morning session was brought to a close by Kalani Da Silva and Sara González, who shared their vision as Canarian surfing talents, making them the best allies for promoting not only sporting, but also professional and business development opportunities.

Afternoon session

This fourth edition of the Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum will continue to develop during the afternoon of Friday 7th October, with the celebration of three new debate tables, as well as two practical workshops on shaping and glassing, which are new at this event, with the participation of specialised shapers from the islands and a coastal carpenter from France.

With all this, Carlos Acosta, CEO and WET of Ingeniería Hidráulica y Marítima and editor of the Canary Islands wave catalogues promoted by the Canary Islands Government; Ángel Lobo, president of the Canary Islands Surfing Federation and specialist in maritime and coastal spatial planning and Ignacio García, geographer and specialist in beach planning, will address the need for ‘From protection to the rehabilitation of waves: interventions in natural sports facilities’.

They will be followed by Miguel Ángel Gomá, from Radical Surf Mag, and Javier Amezaga, from Tres60 magazine, who, as experts in communication, dissemination and media, will bring to this Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum the vision of surfing from the field of magazines, cinema and the press.

This fourth edition of the Forum will end with three personal visions on how to successfully manufacture in a sustainable way from the Canary Islands, through the round table ‘Made in the Canary Islands: surf fashion, trend and sustainability’, in which Elena Morales, designer and founder of Elena Morales; Néstor Santiago, CEO of Fibras Naturales Canarias and Eugenio Navas, designer at Ozeano, will take the floor.

The Gran Canaria Blue Economy Forum is promoted and financed by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, with the organisation of Infecar, and has the collaboration of the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, through the Department of Ciudad de Mar, the SPEGC, Best in Gran Canaria, the Maritime Cluster of the Canary Islands, the Association of Surf Schools of Gran Canaria, the Canarian Surfing Federation and Cajasiete, as official collaborator.