The president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, the mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Augusto Hidalgo, and the president of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, Luis Ibarra, inaugurated the eleventh edition of the International Sea Fair, FIMAR 2022, on Friday 20 May: an event which for the first time is being held in the area surrounding the Santa Catalina cruise ship dock, which means the return of unrestricted public attendance and which presents a firm commitment to the sustainable blue economy in the area surrounding the city and the island.

The International Sea Fair is an event promoted by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Puertos de Las Palmas, and organised by the Department of Ciudad de Mar and the Canary Islands Trade Fair Institution (INFECAR). The presentation was also attended by the technical coordinator of Economic Development, Energy Sovereignty, Climate and Knowledge of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Raúl García Brink, and the councillor of Ciudad de Mar of the capital of Gran Canaria, José Eduardo Ramírez.

Promoting sustainable projects

The president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, indicated that “we are aware of the fragility of our ocean and the dependence we have on it as the island territories that we are: that is why it is absolutely necessary to set in motion all those mechanisms aimed at recovering these resources and making the most of them. And that we proceed to protect our systems”.

Morales stressed that “the blue economy is about just that, that we set up initiatives in the field of the circular economy or new technologies, to undertake sustainable projects linked to renewable energies or leisure”.

Along these lines, he explained that “it is a question of taking advantage of maritime and marine resources to diversify our economy. At the moment,” he said, “the Cabildo de Gran Canaria is developing a proposal for technological innovation, which has two areas for aquaculture and marine biotechnology, with an investment of around 10.5 million euros, with which we hope to contribute to promoting this blue economy model in Gran Canaria.

“An immersive experience” in the Port

The Mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Augusto Hidalgo, recalled that “today we meet again with FIMAR after two years, now without the previous restrictions, as a reference for marine and maritime leisure in the city and in a new place which is fantastic, which gives the public a completely immersive experience in the port environment”. Hidalgo recalled that this edition of the fair emphasises surfing and water sports as potential vectors of blue economic development in the city and the island, and that “they even have a capacity of attraction for the city”.

The mayor pointed to the extensive conference programme and the leisure programme as an incentive for FIMAR, to emphasise that marine-maritime activity forms an essential part “of the development strategy of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria”.

Hidalgo confirmed that “we are going to continue to support this fair, because it is already a benchmark. This year, even more so, within the framework of the European Union”. That is, within the celebrations of European Maritime Day (this 20 May, under the hashtag #EMDinMyCountry) that take place throughout the map of the Union, and of which FIMAR is also part.

Renovation of the Santa Catalina area

Luis Ibarra, president of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, stressed that FIMAR “is increasingly consolidated as one of the major nautical events in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in this case, at the Santa Catalina wharf”. Ibarra recalled that this environment “will be transformed, because we are going to remove the current cruise terminal, to convert it through a private initiative in a new generation terminal, so that ships can access directly with a ‘finger’.

Ibarra emphasised that in this edition of FIMAR “we have focused on the importance that algae cultivation can have in port areas in terms of CO2 capture. We have worked with the Spanish Bank of Algae to place a point at the entrance to the Santa Catalina Quay, which will be active in the coming months, where we will be able to see the level of growth of the algae and the level of CO2 it can capture. It is a pioneering project in Puertos del Estado”, he added, “and we have wanted to tie it in with the celebration of FIMAR”.

First day of FIMAR

Almost sixty exhibitors are taking part in FIMAR 2022, in an edition dedicated especially to surfing and water sports. However, other segments, such as the nautical, port and maritime sectors and even fashion are widely represented at a fair in which different institutions also play an active role. Public bodies and private companies have maintained an intense activity on the first day of the fair, which has had a lively public attendance from the early hours of the morning.

This year, the Gáldar Town Council, the La Aldea de San Nicolás Town Council and the Santa Lucía de Tirajana Town Council are all taking part in FIMAR. Organisations such as Gestión y Planeamiento Territorial y Mediambiental (GESPLAN) and PLOCAN, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands, are also taking part.

The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) is represented at FIMAR by the University Institute of Sustainable Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems (ECOAQUA), the University Institute of Textual Analysis and Applications (IATEXT), the Faculty of Philology, the Biological Oceanography Group, the Canary Islands Harmful Algae Observatory (OCHABS), the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, the SIANI (Division of Robotics and Computational Oceanography) and the University Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety (IUSA), as well as the Faculty of Marine Sciences, a pioneer in these studies in Spain and an international reference in teaching and research in the marine environment.

Entities whose activities are directly linked to the sea are also present at the fair, such as the Real Club Naútico de Gran Canaria, the Federación de Vela Latina Canaria de Botes, the Federación Insular de Vela de Gran Canaria, the Club Deportivo Marítimo Varadero de Gran Canaria, the Asociación Nacional de Patrones Profesionales de Embarcaciones de Recreo (ANPPER), the Asociación de navegantes de recreo (ANAVRE) and the IFP Maritimo Pesquero de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Talks and leisure plan

On this first day of FIMAR, the talks and presentations were well attended by the public. The Social Institute of the Navy (with José Julián Suárez Suárez and Juan Socorro Cruz), ‘Algarden: Algae Garden’ (with Carlos Almeida Peña), ‘Feeling safe in recreational boating’ (with José Antonio González Artiles) and ‘CO2 in the ocean’ (with David Curbelo Hernández) were the talks given in the morning programme.

The afternoon session included the talks ‘Interreg Atlantic MONITOOL. New tools for the evaluation of the chemical status of coastal and transitional waters for the Water Framework Directive’ (with Vanessa Millán Gabet, 16:00), ‘Contributions of the ABACO project to the improvement of bathing areas. Health quality of beach sands’ (with Juana R. Betancort and Marta Rodrigo Sanz, 17:00), ‘IUSA, the CSI of the Sea’, (with Raquel Puig Lozano, 18:00) and ‘The maritime route to the Canary Islands in Ancient Rome’, (with Gregorio Rodríguez Herrera and Trinidad Arcos Pereira, 19:00).

As for the leisure plan, the Navy has set up one of its maritime action ships (BAM) so that it can be visited at the dock. And the usual boat visits to the Port have been scheduled, this time from the even side. The baptisms of the sea (with the Club Marítimo Varadero, the Federación Insular de Vela and the Real Club Náutico de Gran Canaria, with its adapted sailing and dinghy sailing) have attracted the attention of the public on a great nautical and maritime day inside the Santa Catalina.

FIMAR 2022 will continue to be held at the same location on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd May, with free access and parking for the public.