Final preparations underway for SeaFest

More than 100,000 visitors are expected to attend the country's largest free maritime festival which gets underway in Cork today.

More than 100,000 visitors are expected to attend the country's largest free maritime festival which gets underway in Cork tomorrow.

One of the major theme's of the three-day SeaFest is the focus on the huge build-up of plastic in the oceans.

To highlight the problem, one of the exhibits will be an interactive hut made up of 60kg of household plastics - the average amount thrown out by an adult in Ireland each year.

Many of the events are within the vicinity of the Port of Cork's headquarters in the city centre.

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The interactive hut will be Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s centrepiece at SeaFest, supported by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

It will be accompanied by a specially commissioned artistic performance 'Fantastic Fishermen go Fishing for Litter' on how the fishing sector is reducing plastics in the seas.

Members of the fishing sector taking part in BIM’s Fishing for Litter scheme, which encourages fishermen to take ashore waste they encounter at sea, have collected over 330 tonnes of marine litter since it began in 2015.

Exhibitions and workshops to turn plastic into art also feature at SeaFest which is open daily from 10am to 6pm.

The festival will see 1,000 young visitors transform 1,000 plastic cartons into an installation of seagulls while the Port of Cork and MaREI’s 3D exhibition 'Maintaining a Healthy Harbour' will also be on display, with marine litter artworks from local schoolchildren.

Showing how the oceans and climate are linked, the Marine Institute’s Wild Atlantic Theatre features talks from Met Éireann Head of Forecasting Evelyn Cusack and wildlife cameraman Doug Allan, who has worked alongside David Attenborough on BBC’s Blue Planet and Frozen Planet.

Sustainably sourced Irish seafood plays a starring role at SeaFest with demos from top chefs Nevin Maguire, Rory O’Connell and Martin Shanahan.

The Bord Bia and BIM Seafood Experience also features fishmongers Pat O’Connell and Hal Dawson on seafood preparation.

Encouraging responsible activity on the water, SeaFest will hold free sailing, kayaking, and currach boats sessions along with interactive displays exploring the marine world.

Providing education on our oceans, the Marine Institute RV Celtic Explorer is open to the public, following its oceanographic data collection voyage from Galway to Cork.

There will also be vessel tours of Commissioners of Irish Lights’ ILV Granuaile and tall ship The Phoenix. MFV Allanah Riley, a white fish trawler that fishes out of the port of Castletownbere, will be open to visitors throughout SeaFest. Its crew will be on hand to explain the sustainable fishing practices of the Irish fishing fleet.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, said SeaFest will deliver a fantastic line-up of educational and fun events to engage both the public and policymakers alike and emphasise the importance of Ireland’s marine economy.

See www.seafest.ie for full event details.