So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
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We started Hakai Magazine over 10 years ago because the ocean and its coastlines needed a voice. No other outlet was exclusively covering issues at the interface of sea and land—or of the marine world in general.
After all these years, most stories in the marine beat are as familiar to me as the liturgy I grew up reciting (and, like all lapsed Catholics, will never forget). Our reporting on climate change, fisheries, human-wildlife interactions, and deep-sea mining—and anything and everything about whales—borders on the ritualistic. But while liturgy rarely changes, science does, and so does our understanding of these issues. At Hakai, we’ve done our best to adapt—to share what’s new, what’s urgent, and what’s inspiring in ways that keep you, our readers, informed, engaged, and entertained.
Unlike those age-old religious texts, science is never set in stone; it’s a dynamic conversation. As environmental journalists, we play a role in that conversation, reflecting not just the facts but the humanity within them. When someone asked me what my overall takeaway is after a decade of editing a science magazine focused on oceans and coastlines, I thought first about our humanity, not our beat. One of the deeper meanings of humanity is recognizing our shared responsibility to each other and to nature itself. It’s this compassion—this humaneness—that the Hakai team has carried into our stories. We’ve contemplated how whales and humans talk, the beauty of an island too inhospitable for people, and seabirds’ relationship with fish, for example, to illustrate that we are all part of this fragile, interconnected planet.
We are a team of people—flawed and forgetful, but also hopeful and cheerful—with big hearts, motivated by the belief that, through journalism, we can make the world a little bit better. With every story we have produced, we’ve kept in mind the global conversation about various issues and have made an effort to write with enough depth and thoughtfulness to offer our readers moments of self-reflection, compassion, and connection. As critics rightfully point out, digital media and communication are nothing like face-to-face conversation. In the absence of human connection, our ability to experience those moments atrophies. Yet, despite all its downsides, digital media is how most of us share ideas, make sense of our lives, and attempt to make meaningful attachments.
At Hakai, we’ve done our best to ensure that what we have offered you through this digital space—our stories, our words, our images—carried the power to spark reflection, compassion, and connection. Over the past 10 years, I believe this team of imperfect people with big hearts has honored you, our audience, and the world we all love. And we’ll keep doing that in 2025 and beyond at biographic.com.