SeaFest - a celebration of Ireland's incredible ocean wealth showcasing our abundant maritime resources 

SeaFest, Ireland's national maritime festival, took place in Cork Harbour on Saturday 11th July 2015. The SeaFest programme of events included a seafood fair, seafood cookery demonstrations with celebrity chefs and seafaring family fun, tours of the Irish Naval ships, a Parade of Sail ending in Cork City, leisure craft and boats, the Lee Swim, exhibits on marine life and all manner of festival entertainment for every age group. View the 2015 Festival Programme here.

The official opening of UCC's new state-of-the-art Beaufort Building also took place on Saturday 11th July. The opening marks a milestone in Ireland’s understanding of its ocean energy resource.

On Sunday 12th July, two super yachts raced for the Galway Plate. The race featured two IMOCA 60s: Kilcullen Voyager, skippered by Enda O’Coineen, and Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss. Finishing the Cork Harbour course in under 3 hours, the boats finished a minute apart with Hugo Boss, clinching the lead. 

As part of SeaFest 2015 the 2nd Annual Our Ocean Wealth Conference also took place in Cork on Friday10 July 2015. With over 500 participants, the 2015 Conference focused on the commercial opportunities presented by Ireland’s ocean wealth and the enormous potential of our ‘blue economy’.

At SeaFest 2015, exhibitors from industry, research and community groups had a unique opportunity to meet a broad audience of the public, business interests, policy makers and researchers over two days. View details on these exhibits here.

The Irish Maritime Development Office of the Marine Institute hosted an investor event on Thursday 9th July to complement the two-day SeaFest programme in Cork. Commercial leaders were invited from around the world to discuss opportunities identified by the Development Task Force.

A gallery of photographs from the event can be viewed here.