Athline Clark named NOAA’s superintendent of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument

NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries today announced the appointment of Athline Clark as NOAA’s new superintendent of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Clark has worked for the past five years for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and previously she served as the state of Hawaiʻi co-manager for Papahānaumokuākea.

“Athline has more than 20 years of experience working with the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, first in the Florida Keys, then as a sanctuary advisory council member for Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary,” said Allen Tom, Pacific Islands regional director for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. “She has always been a part of the sanctuary universe in the Pacific Islands region, and we are excited to welcome her to NOAA's marine protected area family.”

“The advisory council is happy to have Athline on board, as she brings a wealth of knowledge about the history and management of this special place,” said Tim Johns, NOAA’s Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Advisory Council chair. The council is a community-based advisory group that provides advice and recommendations to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries about the management of Papahānaumokuākea.

“I am encouraged by Athline’s wealth of experience from two decades of involvement working from all sides of conservation and resource management,” said Dan Basta, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries director. “For many of those years she has been working directly with us to manage the monument resources.”

Clark is a graduate of Kailua High School on the island of Oʻahu. She received a Bachelor of Arts, and a Master of Arts in urban and regional planning from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She will be located in NOAA’s Honolulu office at NOAA’s Inouye Regional Center on Ford Island.

Papahānaumokuākea is cooperatively managed to ensure ecological integrity and achieve strong, long-term protection and perpetuation of Northwestern Hawaiian Island ecosystems, Native Hawaiian culture, and heritage resources for current and future generations. Three co-trustees – the Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, and State of Hawai‘i – joined by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, protect this special place. Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument was inscribed as the first mixed (natural and cultural) UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States in July 2010. For more information, please visit www.papahanaumokuakea.gov.

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