The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Team Member of the Year award is presented each year to team members of the NOAA NMFS workforce who are not actual NOAA Federal employees. These awards recognize the outstanding contributions to NMFS programs by team members working alongside NMFS staff, and their demonstrated, exceptional and sustained effort toward accomplishment of the NMFS mission. We are proud to present the Ocean Associates, Inc. employees and sub-contractors who have been awarded as a 2019 NOAA NMFS Team Member of the Year – Congratulations to all! .

• Robert Hardy (OPR) has been recognized for demonstrating outstanding service to NOAA through his role in developing a modernized information management system for the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.
• Karl Veggerby (NWFSC) has been recognized for being a science maverick in the making: unparalleled contributions to eDNA, otolith, stable isotope, underwater video and field research projects that strengthened NWFSC science.
  
• Stuart Munsch (NWFSC) has been recognized for making important contributions to NOAA missions by leading or contributing to 10 applied science publications (4 peer-reviewed papers, a tech memo, and 4 manuscripts in review).
  
• Justin Peters (WCRO) has been recognized for being instrumental in successfully transitioning the WCR’s website (~1000 pages) to the new NOAA Fisheries website, making an enormous contribution to West Coast Communications.
  
• Andres Ticlavilca (WCRO) has been recognized for expert hydrology science support in creating computer-based machine learning models to enhance NMFS’ ability to perform its own simulations of water management scenarios for the benefit of ESA-listed species.