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1966年 高知市長浜に生まれる。子どもの頃からの海好き、釣り好きで魚好き。 それが高じて高知大学農学部栽培漁業学科に入学。学生時代は釣りと、高知県・沖縄県座間味島でのダイビングガイドで生計を立てつつ学問に励む。 経験タンク本数5000本。大学院博士課程で東京大学海洋研究所に在籍し、1996年に学位農学博士取得。専門は魚類生態学。
1998年から高知県柏島に移り住み、高知大学や高知医科大学非常勤講師を続けながら、 島をまるごと博物館と捉えた海のフィールド・ミュージアム「黒潮実感センター」を発足。 海洋生物の研究拠点であり、地元の人への生涯学習や環境学習の場としても開放。島の自然と人の暮らしが両立する、持続可能な"里海"づくりに挑戦している。 2002年 NPO法人化、現在センター長を務める。　

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Born in 1966 in Nagahama, Kochi, Kanda loved fishing and the sea ever since childhood. This passion led him to enter the Department of Aquaculture at Kochi University's School of Agriculture. He financed his studies through fishing and work as a diving guide both in Kochi Prefecture and at Okinawa Prefecture's Zamami Island, going through more than 5000 tanks. He did graduate work at the University of Tokyo's Ocean Research Institute, earning his doctorate in agriculture in 1996 with a major in fish ecology.
In 1998 Kanda moved to Kashiwajima Island where, while continuing to teach part time at Kochi University and Kochi Medical School, he founded the Kuroshio Experiential Center, an ocean field museum that treats the entire island as its subject. A center for research on marine life, it is also open to the local population as a site for lifelong learning and environmental education. The challenge is to create a sustainable, managed ocean environment that supports both the island's natural beauty and the livelihood of its residents. The center became a non-profit organization in 2002 with Kanda serving as Director.
Kashiwajima Island is located at the southernmost tip of Kochi Prefecture, with a circumference of 3.9 km and a population of about 500 people. The surrounding ocean is home to nearly 1000 species of fish, the most in Japan. Clear waters offer visibility of 20 to 40 meters.