Before Paul joined Sea Grant in 1999, he spent 10 years working for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, first as the chief microbiologist and then as the director of the Public Health Division. He has been involved in all aspects of seafood safety and environmental monitoring. At Sea Grant, he is the director of the program, and leader of the Marine Extension Team, a group of 9 Sea Grant and Cooperative Extension staff members who are based all along the Maine coast. He is also serving as interim research coordinator in 2009-2010.  Paul is involved in several state-wide initiatives including alternative ocean energy, climate change adaptation, and restoration of Atlantic salmon.  Paul and his wife Jan live in Winterport, Maine where they enjoy their six children, organic gardening, at “Harmony Farm.”  In his free time, Paul plays guitar and mandolin in the Maine-based band, Blue Northern.

B.S. (Microbiology) University of Maine, 1983
M.S. (Microbiology) University of Maine, 1985

“At the heart of the Sea Grant Program is the strangest creature to be born of the Sea Grant’s rather unusual multifaceted requirements: the Sea Grant Director. Each institution has one. The director is our person on campus, and the institution’s person in Washington, D.C. He or she has to combine audacity, the persistence of a glacier, and the diplomatic skills of a Machiavelli in order to impose the requirements of the national Sea Grant Program on fiercely independent academics, to persuade researchers in both the natural and social sciences to reorient their thinking to the kinds of problem solving Sea Grant sought, and to nudge educators toward the environment and especially the world of water. The directors work in Washington on behalf of their programs, and work in their universities for program recognition…” -- Hal Goodwin and Bob Abel, 1988

Maine Sea Directors, 1971-2010

Paul Anderson 2002-present
Ian Davison 1998-2001
Robert Wall 1987-1997
Larry Mayer 1985-1986
Ron Dearborn 1981-1985
Malvern Gilmartin 1977-1980
Fred Hutchinson 1975-1977
David Dean 1971-1975