Press Releases

CONTACT:
Andrew Palmer, NOAA
(360) 547-6622 ext. 15
Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary

Olympic National Marine Sanctuary, managed by NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program, is seeking to fill two seats on its advisory council, which represents the public’s interests in sanctuary matters and provides advice to the sanctuary superintendent. The open seats represent commercial fishing and education interests, respectively. For each seat, the sanctuary will select one member and one alternate.

The sanctuary advisory council consists of 21 members representing a wide range of constituents, including environmental, marine industry, citizen-at-large, research, tourism, education, commercial fishing, local government, coastal tribes, state and federal interests. Specifically, the council's role is to provide sanctuary managers with recommendations regarding protection and management of sanctuary resources, as well as input into sanctuary research, education and outreach efforts.

Applicants will be chosen based upon their expertise and experience in relation to the seat for which they are applying, their community and professional affiliations, and their philosophy regarding the protection and management of marine resources. Advisory council members are not paid and serve two-year terms, pursuant to the council’s charter.

Applications are due by December 15, 2006. To receive an application kit or for further information please contact: Andrew Palmer, council coordinator, 115 East Railroad Ave., Port Angeles, WA 98362, by phone at (360) 457-6622 ext. 15 or by e-mail at andrew.palmer@noaa.gov.

Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary was designated in July 1994. The sanctuary lies within the fishing areas of the four coastal tribes — Hoh, Makah, Quinault and Quileute — and follows along 135 miles of northern Washington coastline. This sanctuary encompasses an area of approximately 2,500 square nautical miles. Significant habitats include rocky, cobbled, and sandy beaches, offshore islands and seastacks, kelp forests, reefs and shoals, and undersea canyons.

NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program seeks to increase the public awareness of America’s marine resources and maritime heritage by conducting scientific research, monitoring, exploration and educational programs. Today, the sanctuary program manages 13 national marine sanctuaries and one marine national monument that together encompass more than 150,000 square miles of America’s ocean and Great Lakes natural and cultural resources.

In 2007 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

On the Internet:
NOAA
National Marine Sanctuary Program
Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary
Sanctuary Advisory Council