Those in attendance at last year’s District Conference at Fern Resort will have many fond memories. Chief among them, I suspect, will be the presentation by three students from Thomas A. Blakelock Secondary School in Oakville.
Amrutha, Emmy and Veera were concerned about the number of sharks being killed as “by-catch” in commercial fishing. They worked on a project to specially design nets that humanely repel sharks. Obvious benefit to the shark population – critical as apex predators – but also helpful to fishermen, who would reduce net damage and unnecessary catch. Thus, Bye-Catch was born.
Please read more.....
Their presentation energised us all. (And from murmurs in the crowd, more than a few mumbling that their own high school years were not quite as productive…)
At our lunch break I was chatting with the three to see what it would take for the project to go to the next stage, and to enable them to build a working prototype.
As Rotarians are wont to do, the support from the crowd during lunch and dinner was immediate, and generous.
It was my honour to represent District Governor Niecy and the District in presenting the young social entrepreneurs with a cheque for $4,576.51.
Thank you to Rotarian Frank Auddino who brought Miss Ainslee and her students to the conference to share their project with us. They promised to come back and give us a progress update at this year’s conference!
Neil Phillips
