In April 2014, the Westerly News wrote a series of articles highlighting vital ocean resources. A photo on the front of the April 30, 2014 Westerly depicted a room full of people listening to speakers from North Island College, hosted at the Ucluelet Aquarium.
An excerpt of coverage from Westerly News editor Andrew Bailey:
The conference featured four speakers whose topics included the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and resulting earthquake of 2011; sustainable aquaculture; wave energy and the "divorce" occurring between nature and humanity.
The conference was organized by Bill Morrison of NIC and the math science department chair of the day, Christine Hodgson. "Bill wanted to give Ucluelet the gift of listening to academic speakers in their home community," said Sandra Milligan, a biology instructor at NIC at the time.
"To West Coast residents Fukushima, aquaculture and wave energy aren't abstract, they're very real," Morrison said. "If the impacts are going to be felt anywhere in B.C. they're going to be felt here first.
"What better way to understand the science and inform the debate than to learn first hand from people at the forefront of the research?"
