Jennifer Lash

Executive Director, Living Oceans Society

Jennifer Lash was born in Toronto, Ontario and is the founder of Living Oceans Society, an oceans conservation group based in Sointula, British Columbia. Growing up in Ontario, Jennifer spent her summers sailing on tall ships, canoeing in Algonquin Park, and swimming in Georgian Bay. But the lure of salt water took her to Australia in 1989 where she spent endless days scuba diving on the coral reefs and eventually ended up working in the commercial fishing industry.

“After witnessing first hand the complex and spectacular ocean ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef and the destruction caused by bottom trawling, I was moved to take action.”

Jennifer returned to Canada consumed with a passion to protect the ocean. Within a few short years, she completed her degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto, packed her belongings, and moved to British Columbia. While university gave her an understanding of how the government functioned, it did not prepare her for the powerful emotion that coastal residents feel for the ocean and their way of live.

“There is no one who loves the ocean more then those that live on the edge of the land. And while I may not support all the ways the ocean is used, I could not deny that people are as much a part of the ocean ecosystem as the fish.”

After years of talking to fishermen, learning from First Nations, working on fishing boats, and diving in the current swept passages, Jennifer was determined to find a way to protect the health of the ocean in order to support the coastal communities that are so tied to the power of the ocean. The first thing she did was move to Sointula, a fishing community located on Malcolm Island on the Central Coast of B.C. The second thing she did was establish Living Oceans Society. Jennifer knew from the beginning that running an ocean conservation organization from a fishing community would present a unique set of challenges but ultimately she hopes it breaks down the barriers between environmentalists and fishermen.

“While we may talk about the ocean differently, we all want to see the ocean healthy and vibrant for years to come.”

Living Oceans Society is now the largest marine conservation organization in Canada. Over the past 10 years Living Oceans kept the B.C. coast free of offshore oil development, stopped the expansion of the salmon farming industry while promoting closed containment technology, called for dramatic changes to the groundfish bottom trawling fishery, and worked tirelessly to get government to establish a network of marine protected areas.

Jennifer lives in Sointula with her two children, Molly and Dexter. She is also a Board Member of the Canadian Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and president of the Parent Advisory Council at her kids’ school. In 2002, the Tides Foundation presented Jennifer with the Jane Bagley Lehman Award for Excellence in Public Advocacy.

When asked where Jennifer would like to see Living Oceans Society in 20 years, she replied, “If the leadership from the federal, provincial, and First Nations governments meant that the ocean would be protected and able to sustain us for generations to come then I would be out of a job. That would be a dream come true.”