Leah Bendell to Discuss the Ecological Impact of the Baynes Sound Shellfish Industry June 2 at Western

Leah Bendell from Simon Fraser University will discuss the impact of the shellfish industry on Baynes Sound as part of Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment Speaker Series at 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 2 in Communications Facility 110 on WWU campus.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

Baynes Sound/Lambert Channel, on the east coast of Vancouver Island halfway between Nanaimo and Campbell River, is one of the most important ecologically sensitive regions along the Pacific Northwest coast. However, currently it is under increasing pressure from an aggressive shellfish industry, seaweed harvesting and urban development. Although 50 percent of British Columbia’s shellfish comes from Baynes Sound, the industry is afflicted by ocean acidification, warming oceans, an increase in red tide events, high cadmium levels in farmed oysters, and the presence of high numbers of microplastics within water and sediments.

In her Speaker Series talk titled “Common Sense Approaches to Environmental Conflicts,” Bendell will offer a different approach to management of the Baynes Sound/Lambert Channel area. By focusing on alternate economies like tourism, she suggests, the region could avoid further negative consequences from industrial activity and climate change.

Bendell earned her doctorate from the University of Toronto and now works at Simon Fraser University as a professor of Marine Ecology and Conservation. Her primary interest is in understanding how human activities alter ecosystem structure and function within intertidal ecosystems.

The presentation will include a question-and-answer period. Anyone interested in the topic is encouraged to attend and participate.

The Huxley College Speaker Series, sponsored by Western’s Huxley College of the Environment, is intended to bring together environmentally-minded members of the WWU and Bellingham communities. Speakers address topics of contemporary environmental concern in the region and the world.

WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment is one of the oldest environmental colleges in the nation and a recognized leader in producing the next generation of environmental professionals and stewards. Huxley’s distinctive, interdisciplinary curriculum reflects a broad view of the physical, biological, social, and cultural world, and has earned international recognition for quality.

For more information, please contact WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment at (360) 650-2554 or Jen.VanderWeyden@wwu.edu.