2025 MRC Conference
The 2025 MRC Conference is by invite only and will be held at Maple Hall in La Conner, Skagit County on November 7 and 8, 2025! Members of the seven Northwest Straits Marine Resources Committees will automatically be added to our distribution list for details and registration. More information about sessions and the agenda will be available on this page as we develop it. Stay tuned for updates on registration, available this August, by bookmarking this page.
MRC Members: Please coordinate with your county for hotel reimbursement. You can reserve your hotel room for the room block at the Fairfield Inn and Suites reservation link. Reserve by October 7, 2025!
NW Straits Commissioners and Science Advisory Committee members: Please email info@nwstraits.org for any questions about your hotel reservation. Your reservations must be finalized by October 7, 2025.
If you have questions about the Conference, please contact Caitlyn Blair at our general Northwest Straits email address info@nwstraits.org.
Keynote Speaker: Josie Iselin
An Artists Journey into the Science of Seaweed and the Stories of the Kelp Forest
Josie Iselin is an artist, author, book designer, and ocean activist that has recognized the power of art and storytelling in scientific communications. She will take us on her journey from making algal imagery using her flatbed scanner, to writing and designing various books on seaweed, to her current project as partner of Above/Below, a collective committed to telling kelp forest, and most recently, oyster, stories. The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp is a web-based book that was released in November 2023, with a new Spanish and French translations and added kelp restoration content added in fall, 2025. Josie will walk us through her process for artmaking, research, and writing. She will end by discussing the development of the comprehensive web-based book about bull kelp, a monumental and collaborative project that has been viewed by over 25,000 kelp-curious learners, and she will share a preview of the newest Olympia oyster project.
Josie has spent years individually scanning seaweeds and kelps, using the transparency adaptor on her flatbed scanner to capture the translucent wonder of these foundational organisms of the oceans. Her intent is to elevate their stories, to increase recognition of the seaweed’s and kelp’s beauty and diversity of forms, and their ingenuity at thriving in the inter- and subtidal zones, a zone us humans can only try our hardest to understand. The remarkable diversity and abundance of seaweeds and kelps throughout the Pacific Northwest, BC, and Alaska need to be celebrated as the eco-engineers and primary producers that so many other organisms of our oceans depend upon.
Late afternoon sunlight hits the waterfront La Conner Washington. Photo: Chris Boswell