Brief Biography

Alan Mearns is currently Senior Staff Scientist and Leader of the Biological Assessment Team at NOAA's HazMat Division in Seattle. He and his team provide support to the US Coast Guard during spills of oil and hazardous materials. He has been involved in over 100 incidents in the US and abroad. He is also an expert on chronic pollution issues in US coastal waters. His team and associates have conducted extensive reviews of pollution problems and trends in Puget Sound, Southern California, San Francisco Bay and various East Coast areas. He is co-author of the National Research Council's 1993 report, "Managing Wastewaters in Coastal Urban Areas", an Editor for the Water Environment Federation and past president of local chapters of the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists. He is past recipient of the Biology Alumnus of the Year award from California State University at Long Beach and in 1992 he was awarded a US Department of Commerce Silver medal for work and research on the response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Dr. Mearns received his B.Sc. Degree in Zoology and MA Degree in Biology from California State University at Long Beach, and his Ph.D. Degree in Fisheries at the University of Washington. Prior to joining NOAA in 1980 he conducted marine biological and fisheries research in the Arctic Ocean, Alaska, Washington and Southern California. During the 1970's he was Leader of the Biology Division of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. He has authored and co-authored over 200 papers and reports in the field of marine pollution ecology.