PORT ANGELES — Kevin Grant of Port Angeles has been named superintendent of Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries announced the appointment Monday.
Grant has been with NOAA for nearly 14 years as a deputy superintendent, with more than nine years at the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS) and four years at National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa.
He has a master’s in marine affairs from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s in biology from the University of Wisconsin.
Grant was a Knauss Sea Grant Fellow at the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and served two years in the Peace Corps in the Solomon Islands.
“Nearly all of his experience since leaving graduate school has involved collaboration in resource management with indigenous communities,” according to a press release.
Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, with offices in Port Angeles, is managed by NOAA and was designated in 1994. It encompasses nearly 3,200 square miles off the Washington coast, extending from Cape Flattery to the mouth of the Copalis River. The area includes 29 species of marine mammals, as well as large populations of nesting seabirds, shipwrecks and some of the last remaining wilderness coastline in the lower 48 states.
The sanctuary is part of America’s National Marine Sanctuary System, a network of underwater areas encompassing more than 620,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters. The network includes a system of 15 national marine sanctuaries and Papahanaumokuakea and Rose Atoll marine national monuments. The National Marine Sanctuary System is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022.
