Copper artwork from renowned local artist Clark Mundy adorns the entrance of Feiro Marine Life Center, which welcomes tens of thousands of visitors annually
Founded in 1981, the Feiro Marine Life Center is a highlight of downtown Port Angeles, Washington for locals and tourists alike. The aquarium is named after its founder Arthur D. Feiro, a science teacher and coach at Port Angeles High School and dean of students at Peninsula College who wanted to create a place where the community he loved could experience the wonders of our ocean. Starting out as a marine laboratory for Peninsula College, the aquarium evolved over the years, narrowly surviving the 2008 recession by becoming a nonprofit organization thanks to community support. The aquarium has grown and thrived since, drawing almost 22,000 visitors from around the world in 2024 and teaching them about our rich local marine ecosystems and the importance of our connection to the ocean.
Now, this fixture of downtown Port Angeles is set to launch into its next chapter with the opening of a new marine discovery center. This modern facility will have the capacity for even more visitors with over twice the aquarium and classroom space. It will also include exciting new exhibits, including a display of live local seabirds such as tufted puffins, as well as classic favorites such as the Giant Pacific Octopus. The new aquarium will form part of the Port Angeles Waterfront Center campus alongside the existing Field Arts and Events Hall and the future Lower Elwha Klallam Cultural Center, providing a hub for education and discovery on the Port Angeles Waterfront. The marine discovery center project is over 80% funded as of November 2025, and has a projected opening date in the beginning of 2028.
Volunteer Carla Hopie helps a young visitor to the aquarium feed kelp to sea urchins in the Feiro Marine Life Center touch tanks. Volunteers form a core part of the team that helps keep the aquarium running, and range in age and walks of life from middle schoolers to retireesCultural Resource Specialists Zachary Allen and Caitlin Limberg of HDR Inc, a global engineering firm named after the initials of its founders, perform an archaeological survey of the building site for the new aquarium as a bicyclist passes by on the nearby Olympic Discovery Trail. As the facility will be constructed on land historically lived on by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, this survey ensures that no cultural artifacts are disturbed during construction and is an important milestone in the building process.
Melissa Williams – the current executive director of the Feiro Marine Life Center and the project manager for the new aquarium project – holds a concept drawing for the gallery space of the new facility. The drawing features a large sculpture of a Humpback Whale named Big Mama, which will be suspended from the ceiling of the aquarium. Big Mama was the first Humpback to return to the Salish Sea in 1997, reestablishing the historic population that had been wiped out by European whalers.
Washington Conservation Corps member Nadia Wilson points out the features of a sea urchin to a young aquarium visitor. Nadia is one half of the current two-person education team at Feiro Marine Life Center. The Washington Conservation Corps is an AmeriCorps program that allows young adults ages 18-25 to gain professional experience in environmental fields through service terms lasting up to 11 months, at the end of which they receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award that helps pay for college and other education opportunities
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