From 16 to 19 July, Tenerife will be the venue for the 5th Meeting of the Seas, a congress which will conduct an analysis of the challenges facing ocean conservation over the next decade, featuring some of the best oceanographers and marine biologists, along with leading chefs, fishermen, shipowners, entrepreneurs operating in the sector, and journalists. 

 The head of Tenerife's "Cabildo" government, Pedro Martín, has now announced that this year the island will be hosting the Congress, previously held in Andalusia, for the next three years, "making Tenerife a benchmark among regions making a stand for the future of seas and their ecosystems, focusing on the ecological assets and the economic, touristic and social potential of our seas”. 

 The head of Vocento's Gastronomy division, Benjamín Lana, meanwhile, says that "this unique congress, with chefs, scientists and those working with the sea, has come into its own in recent years as an initiative with a commitment to responsible exploitation of maritime resources, on a voyage seeking to reverse the destruction of our oceans".

Conservation of the oceans and food from the sea will be the main topics this year, with discussions of overfishing, sea waste, the protection of cetaceans and gastronomy tourism, and also salting processes, smoked and frozen fish. 

 Meeting of the Seas is an itinerant congress, with almost 100 guests moving around between several locations on the island over the three days. Organised by Vocento's Gastronomy Division with the backing of the local government in Tenerife, it will therefore focus on oceans as the only possible source of sustainable, healthy food for humans in the decades ahead.

Tenerife, a world sea reference

As a region surrounded by sea, the island is both gateway and harbour to Atlantic cultures, not only towards America, but to the entire world. A land totally linked to the sea, to marine tradition and sustainability, supported by an intense offshore artisan fishing industry.

This year the congress will home in on the historical agreement produced by the UN a few weeks ago at its Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity. After almost two decades of negotiations, the High Seas Treaty is the UN's new legal framework to preserve marine biodiversity in international waters.

 
 The event will also be awarding the International "Sartún" Prize in acknowledgement of initiatives to protect marine ecosystems, which in previous years went to the Global Fishing Watch, the National Geographic Pristine Seas project, chef Ángel León, and biologist and researcher Uxío Labarta, the father of modern aquaculture.