FAQs

Feiro Marine Life Center and Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary are partnering to build a new Marine Discovery Center. A new facility as part of the Port Angeles Waterfront Center will allow both partners to better meet their mission and goals of marine education and engagement, while adding to the vitality of downtown Port Angeles. We are excited to build not just a new facility, but a new point of connection – drawing people together in community with each other and the natural environment.

Feiro Marine Life Center and Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary have long recognized that joining in a new shared facility will better fulfill their respective missions than continuing to maintain two separate facilities. Both facilities are aged and too small to fully accommodate their mission and business goals and, while both organizations continue to leverage every inch of their facilities, they have simply surpassed their capacity limits. Maintaining operations within small separate facilities does not provide a sustainable model for the future.

The new facility will continue to honor and grow Mr. Feiro’s vision and commitment to educating and engaging people in the marine environment. With invaluable guidance and support from the Feiro family, The Arthur D. Feiro Learning Center will be a key component of the MDC and a state-of-the-art hub of educational opportunities. We believe he would be proud to have his efforts recognized by incorporating them into an expanded vision of his original goal. His commitment to science education will be able to grow and touch so many more than ever before.

This project is a private/public partnership involving Feiro Marine Life Center as a private, non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, which is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a scientific and regulatory agency within the US Department of Commerce. While the Sanctuary is a government organization and cannot participate in fundraising activities, they are assisting the project in many other ways, including exhibit and building design support, federal Inflation Reduction Act funds contracting, community presentations about the Sanctuary, letters of support for the project, and ongoing education program partnerships. In addition to construction costs, funds will be raised for an endowment and maintenance fund to ensure a sustainable future for the MDC.

The new Marine Discovery Center will be three times larger than the current separate facilities, allowing many more visitors to be served. Increased visitation will result in increased revenue, establishing a more traditional — and sustainable — business model in which operational costs are covered through ticket sales and program fees, with supplemental support provided through fundraising. The improved business model will better sustain regular operations, and allow us to improve standards of animal care and maintenance. Fundraising for the new MDC will cover construction costs, as well as establishment of endowment and maintenance funds prior to opening. With funding to ensure stability in the future, the Marine Discovery Center will complete the upgrades necessary to gain and maintain accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).