Fisheries Observer

Serious applicants only please. Training starts on May 8th in Seattle, WA.

This job always starts with a 3 week paid training, which gets you certified to be an observer. During the training in Seattle, WA, there is company housing that you stay at. The flight to Seattle is covered by you, then the flight to/from AK after training is covered by AOI. If driving to Seattle, there is street parking at the apartments, and then long term parking at NOAA while deployed.

For the North Pacific/Alaska program you are then deployed to Dutch Harbor, Alaska for 70-95 days at a time working/living on commercial fishing vessels. While on the vessel you collect biological data to help manage the fisheries. You ID fish to the species level, count and weigh them, collect otoliths/ take sex/lengths, keep track of fishing effort, and other tasks assigned by NOAA. There is a lot of paperwork to fill out, we don't have office hours or lab time, it is straight field work. We aren't out there trying to change/educate the fishermen at all, just collecting data. No relocation is required for this job, just deployments.

The initial contract people sign varies between 4 months and 15 months long. Broken up by those smaller deployments of 70-95 days. There is no set schedule for this job, so we ask that people be flexible during their first contract. There is also new hire bonuses available.

Do you have these Mandatory Qualifications?

Completed Bachelor's degree with a major in a natural science such as Fisheries & Wildlife, Biology, Marine Science, Marine Biology, Ecology, etc.

A minimum of 30 credit hours in applicable biological sciences.

At least one course in both math and statistics.

Coursework that emphasized the use of dichotomous (taxonomic) keys.

Must be a US Citizen.

Full Vaccination

Prior sea time is not required