PORT ANGELES — The Feiro Marine Life Center is moving into the next phase of design for the $25 million to $27 million Marine Discovery Center.
Melissa Williams, Feiro Marine Life Center executive director, told the Port Angeles Noon Rotary on Wednesday that the center has recently re-contracted with architects to begin detailed planning for the building.
The new building, which will replace the Feiro Marine Life Center facility and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Discovery Center, will be located near Field Arts & Events Hall in downtown Port Angeles.
Williams said the center just signed the lease for the property.
In the future, Williams said the center will hold community open houses so individuals can get involved in exhibit design.
The center also has brought a new paid staff member onto the capital campaign team to help raise funds for the project, Williams said.
Until the new building is open, Williams said the Feiro Marine Life Center hopes to keep operating in its current building. However, that depends on whether the center can keep covering its emergency costs.
Some unexpected expenses it has faced include breaking ball valves in the water systems. Williams said replacing these parts has been extra difficult because ball valves are no longer produced in that size.
Because of that, staff have been on eBay trying to track down “vintage aquarium parts” needed to maintain the water system.
The center’s website, which was from 2016, also has experienced almost complete failure, taking most of the center’s digital resources with it.
“We continue to make sure we’re just meeting a basic level of service,” Williams said.
While the center is focused on opening its new joint building, it also is working to grow its education programs.
In 2023, Williams said the center offered 167 education programs to 2,898 participants. That worked out to an average of 3.2 programs offered per week.
Some new programs include the center’s tour partnership with American Cruise Lines, which saw almost 400 participants last year.
They also launched an adult education class, Tidepool 101, which ran four times in 2023 with 35 total participants.
This year, Williams said the center’s summer camp programs were almost sold out. Once the new building is complete, she said it will be able to host three times the number of camps at once.
All the center’s education programs are run by two individuals: interim education manager Jordan Higgins and Washington Conservation Corp member Gavin Truckenmiller.
Williams said increased ticket sale revenue generated from the Marine Discovery Center should allow the center to hire more education program staff in the future.
Once the center is able to expand to its new building, Williams said she is excited to see it take a bigger role in local aquatic issues, including endangered Pinto Abalone, invasive European green crab, ocean acidification, sea star wasting syndrome and more.
“There are so many complicated, meaty, multi-sided topics that we in our community are leading the world on,” Williams said.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
