• Twenty experts, academics and researchers will give a wide-ranging programme of talks on the marine and coastal environment and its relevance to the islands
• The fair, scheduled from 16th to 18th June in the Santa Catalina Quay area, will also screen the documentary images filmed by Rafael Gil in 1941 about Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura

The International Sea Fair (FIMAR) returns in its twelfth edition to present a wide range of talks and educational sessions on the oceans, marine biodiversity, the work carried out by different institutions and companies in the marine environment and the coast and the development of sustainable beaches. The fair reserves a space for these meetings, open to the public and free of charge, with some twenty experts, academics and researchers presenting the latest scientifically proven knowledge in a context of great concern for the environment.

The International Sea Fair will take place from 16 to 18th June in the area surrounding the Muelle Santa Catalina in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. FIMAR is an event promoted by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council and the Port Authority of Las Palmas, and organised by the Department of Ciudad de Mar of the capital of Gran Canaria and Infecar, Feria de Gran Canaria.

Friday, 16th June

On the first day of the fair, 16th June, Inmaculada Herrera Rivero (ULPGC/ECOAQUA) will open the talks with her presentation Who or what is Sheldon J. Plankton, scheduled for 10:30 am. She will be followed by Aridane González González (ULPGC) with the session La importancia de medir el dióxido de carbono y la acidificación en el océano de Canarias: cómo hacerlo y para qué? (11:00 hours); José Julián Suárez Suárez (provincial director of the Social Marine Institute in Las Palmas), with a briefing on the institution he represents (11:15 hours);

Carlota Gonzalez Arijone, an ELITORAL ecosystems technician, will talk about the state and evolution of La Barra de Las Canteras (12:30 pm), and Octavio Santana Rodríguez and Aroa Sánchez Méndez (director and coordinator of APROBBA), who will talk about beach tennis as a vector for sustainability and healthy living (1:15 pm).

The informative sessions will continue on Friday afternoon with Raquel Puig Lozano (ULPGC), who will present the paper IUSA: el CSI del Mar on the University Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (16:00 hours); Ayoze Castro Alonso (professor and researcher at IUSA, of the ULPGC), with the session AGN-PROJECT For the conservation and protection of sharks and rays (16:45 hours); Ianna Francine Luna Duval and Mina Vassvik (ULPGC), with the talk Sun, beach, sand and sustainability: opportunities and challenges (17: 30 hours); Antonio Becerra Bolaños (from the Faculty of Philology of the ULPGC), who will speak on Intangible Heritage and sustainability: the case of Las Canteras beach (18:15 hours); and Hiba Mrich (from the Faculty of Marine Sciences of the ULPGC), with a talk on Ichthyoplankton: The magic formula for sustainable fishing (19:00 hours).

Saturday, 17th June

The talks on Saturday, 17th June, at FIMAR will start with Manuel J. Chica González (PhD in Naval Engineering from the ULPGC) and his talk Sustainability of Maritime Transport from the point of view of the Ship (10:30 am); Emilio Soler Onís (ULPGC/ ECOAQUA) and his talk The microscopic ocean: exploring the microalgae of the Canary Islands (11:15 am); and a session entitled A sea of art: recycling is conservation, promoted by RedPROMAR (12:30 pm).

In the afternoon, the informative sessions begin with the talk Blue Flags on the Canarian Coast: challenges and opportunities, by Ianna Francine Luna Duval and Mina Vassvik (ULPGC), scheduled for 16:00. It will follow by talks by Manuel Arbelo Hernández (coordinator of the IUSA stranding network of the ULPGC) on Attention to stranded cetaceans in the Canary Islands (16:45); José Juan Castro Hernández (director of the Biology Department of the ULPGC), whose session is entitled Towards Easter Island or the failure of sustainable development (17:30); Iván Vera Alonso (director of the IUSA network of the ULPGC), whose session will be entitled Towards Easter Island or the failure of sustainable development (17:30): 30 hours); Iván Vera Albornoz (manager of Health and Beach Prevention activities of the Red Cross) on Prevention on the beaches of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and undertow currents (18:00 hours); and David González Santana (ULPGC) on Metals in the ocean: behaviour, importance and natural cycles (19:00 hours).

Sunday, 18th June

The last day of FIMAR still has three more informative sessions on the agenda. The first will be given by Maite Asensio Elvira, from the Asociación para la Conservación Medioambiental Latitud Azul, on the Elasmobranquios in Las Canteras (10:30 am). This will be the next talk by Beatriz Fernández-Gómez, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Oceanography and Global Change (IOCAG) of the ULPGC, on The Ocean, a Solution to climate change (11:30 am). And the programme will close with a new instalment of the session, A Sea of Art: recycling is Conservation, by RedPROMAR.

Islas orientales, the documentary

These discussions will be further enhanced in the middle of the conference by the looped screening of Rafael Gil’s twelve-minute documentary Islas Orientales (Eastern Islands), a valuable historical piece dating from 1941, which presents the first films made to promote tourism in Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria. The material, with public production at the time, provides the view that, in the past, it was reserved for the islands.

The documentary was made by Rafael Gil, one of the most prolific directors, screenwriters and filmmakers of Spanish cinema in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The films about the islands are one of his first works (although he had previously made several documentaries about the war for the Republican side). He did this before embarking on his career as a film critic for ABC and several specialised magazines (a task in which he documented the transition from silent to sound films). Subsequently, he became one of the leading filmmakers in Spain in the 20th century. His authorship adds value to these screenings of historical interest at FIMAR.

Its programming is possible thanks to the collaboration of Luis Arnay and the Filmoteca Canaria. It is scheduled from 14:00 to 15:30 on Friday, 16th June. And from 14:30 to 15:00 on Saturday 17th, and Sunday 18th.

Free sessions and exhibitors

It should be remembered that admissions to FIMAR and the informative sessions are free for the general public, who can enjoy these talks until total capacity is reached.

On the other hand, the fair already has around sixty registered exhibitors: institutions and companies active in the marine, maritime and nautical sectors.

Registration for firms and entities interested in participating remains open on the official FIMAR website at the link.

The FIMAR 2023 programme

The International Sea Fair will formally kick off next Friday, 16th June, at 10:00 hours (with the inauguration and an institutional tour of the site), in an extensive day, with free entry for the public, which will conclude at 20:00 hours. The schedule will be repeated on Saturday, 17th June. And on Sunday, 18th June, the final day will be from 10:30 to 15:00.

The agenda includes a leisure plan for the public, including tours of the port area on board the tourist bus and services provided in the city by the City Sightseeing firm. Its departures from the fair are scheduled at 11:00, 13:00, 16:30 and 18:00. The water surface of the Port can also be explored on boat trips: the first of these is scheduled for the opening day at 13:00 hours. On the following days, these excursions will take place every hour.

Likewise, during the fair, the public will be able to visit one of the Navy’s Maritime Action Ships (BAM), which will be in Santa Catalina throughout FIMAR.

Beautiful for the audiences will be sailing, lateen sailing, adapted sailing, windsurfing, canoeing, stand-up paddle or radio-controlled boat exhibitions; sea rides on pedal skates, regattas or even the celebration, on Sunday 18th, of the parents’ regatta of the Alejandro Da Silva 2023 Trophy.

FIMAR 2023 will have a restaurant area for the public. And a large children’s area, where there will be more craft workshops with recycled material for families and children. And where there will be a variety of fun and educational activities for the youngest audience: from those designed for the over-threes to the very youngest, from zero to three years of age.

Pre-FIMAR activities

Before the official inauguration of FIMAR 2023, the programme of this twelfth edition also includes outstanding events offered to a more specific audience.

Thus, on 15th June, at the new Marine-Maritime Innovation Centre (CIMM) in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, located in the same area as the Port, ‘Smart Beach’ will be held, a technical and citizen meeting organised by the IAT Marino-Maritime, to evaluate the development of Smart Beaches in Gran Canaria. It will take place from 19:30 to 15:30.

‘Smart Beach’ Registration is free and open to interested public members until 10th June at 9:00 am. They can be made through the online form on the Society for Economic Promotion of Gran Canaria (SPEGC) website. This site also offers more information about the event.

The same venue will host, on 14th June, from 9:30 to 14:00, the technical seminar of the partners of the European project DATALAB, under the leadership of the municipal company SAGULPA.