MONTEREY — NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries on Wednesday announced the appointment of Lisa Wooninck as superintendent of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, according to a news release from the sanctuary.
Wooninck, 60, has been with NOAA for 20 years, starting as a research fishery biologist at NOAA Fisheries headquarters and the Santa Cruz lab, according to her bio. Her most recent position was policy coordinator for the West Coast Region for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
Wooninck earned her doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of California Santa Barbara. Her interest in policy and marine resource management stems from her time as a 2000 Knauss Sea Grant Fellow in the office of former Rep. Sam Farr’s Washington, D.C., office.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2022, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is a federally marine protected area offshore of California’s central coast. Stretching from Marin County to Cambria, the sanctuary encompasses a shoreline length of 276 miles and 6,094 square miles of ocean, extending an average distance of 30 miles from shore. At its deepest point, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary reaches 12,743 feet. It is one of our nation’s largest national marine sanctuaries, and is larger than Yellowstone National Park.
The sanctuary is part of America’s National Marine Sanctuary System, a network of underwater parks encompassing more than 620,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters. The network includes a system of 15 national marine sanctuaries and Papahānaumokuākea and Rose Atoll marine national monuments. This year, the National Marine Sanctuary System is celebrating its 50-year anniversary.
