Port of Los angeles Executive Director Receivs Peter Benchley ‘Excellence in Solutions' Ocean Conservation Award. Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D., has been named the 2012 recipient of the Blue Frontier Campaign’s Peter Benchley Ocean Award for “Excellence in Solutions.” The Blue Frontier Campaign is a national marine conservation activist organization working to improve ocean policies in coastal states. The Peter Benchley Award is named in honor of lifetime marine wildlife conservationist Peter Benchley, best known for writing the bestseller novel ‘Jaws’ in 1974.