OUR STORY

This aquarium and visitor center is a unique public-private partnership between Feiro Marine Life Center (501(c)(3) nonprofit) and NOAA Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, headquartered in Port Angeles, WA. The sanctuary would be replacing its seasonal Olympic Coast Discovery Center visitor center, and Feiro Marine Life Center would relocate from its current home on City Pier.

The vision for this shared facility began in 2012 with the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Facility Strategy. Together the partners executed a site analysis conducted by Miller Hull architects in 2013. The next year, Feiro hired Melissa Williams, the current Executive Director, who brought her extensive museum experience to the project, most recently serving as the Vice President for Learning at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL. Since 2018, significant progress has been made to realize this vision in spite of setbacks caused by the global pandemic.
Watch our story here…