B.C.'s Hakai Magazine to close after 10 years

After 10 years of reporting on science and the environment, Hakai Magazine is calling it quits at the end of 2024.

Magazine founder and editor-in-chief Jude Isabella said in a letter to readers that the closure comes as the publication parts ways with the Tula Foundation, a non-profit organization that has funded Hakai since its inception.

In its own announcement, the Tula Foundation said it pulled the funding in order to continue its research efforts through the Hakai Institute, and on TulaSalud, an organization which works with women in Guatemala to improve their health.

"We've spent our heart and soul creating science journalism that people wanted to consume in some way," Isabella told CBC.

"We brought a lot of focus to an area of the world where, actually, most of us live on these coastlines. We have a huge impact on the ocean and I think we made people aware of that, aware of how important this zone is to all of us and how we should treat it."

Hakai Magazine started in April 2015, and has since produced award-winning, online long-form features and news stories about science, society and the environment, specifically focusing on shorelines, oceans and coastal life.

The magazine has never been behind a paywall. Isabella said Hakai Magazine archives will remain available online.

UBC School of Journalism postdoctoral fellow Alice Fleerackers said she was gutted to learn the magazine would cease to exist in coming months.

However, she said, media outlets far and wide are struggling with financial sustainability.

"It's disappointing, but this is a reality of our media landscape. Our funding subscriptions are down, advertising revenue is down, which makes it very difficult for any media outlet to remain sustainable. I expect that we'll continue to see closures like this in the future."

New iteration of Hakai to come: editor

Isabella said her team has been in talks with other organizations and outlets, working on a way to keep the work of Hakai's team going.

"I think right now we're an energetic team and we're a forward-looking team and we are not ones to dwell on on loss," she said.

A new publication would, hypothetically, be created under a new name, but with the same staff and vision they had a Hakai, Isabella said, adding that they have considered covering environment and science stories further inland in a new iteration.

"We pour our heart and soul into this, and we have no intention of stopping."