Ensign Tarah Aniya

Science and Marine Operations Officer, NOAA Corps

Ensign Tarah Aniya is the Science and Marine Operations Officer at Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Born and raised on Oahu, her love for the ocean grew from a young age as she surfed and explored. She studied mechanical engineering as a Regents Scholar at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and gained experience at Oceanit, a local engineering firm focused on scientific innovation and sustainability. After graduating, she worked on submarines as a mechanical engineer at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, then on naval facilities at Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific.

Ensign Aniya served as the Safety Officer and Navigation Officer aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, along with being a qualified Officer of the Deck - Underway and NOAA Working Diver. Sailing through the Panama Canal from the North Atlantic to the Bering Sea, she conned various docking/undocking evolutions at ports including San Juan, Puerto Rico; Kodiak, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; San Francisco, California; and Honolulu, Hawaii, along with being the Dynamic Positioning Operator for numerous launches/recoveries of Ocean Exploration’s remotely operated vehicles Deep Discoverer and Seirios. As a NOAA Diver, she was part of the NOAA Diving Center’s first Diver Readiness Detachment, deployed to NOAA Ship Fairweather for a successful emergency ship husbandry operation.

Ensign Aniya’s love of the water leads to many of her hobbies, including surfing, fishing, camping, diving, and boating. She is honored to continue serving in the NOAA Corps as part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary team.