At-Sea Monitor position

[Yani Morley]

Saltwater Inc. is currently accepting resumes for the Eastcoast program. Please describe any experience you have in the New England area or in the New England fishery.

At-sea monitor positions will be based in Portland, ME, Gloucester, MA and New Bedford, MA. This position will be based on vessels and sampling will be conducted at sea, also will require a lot of traveling to other fishing ports to board and disembark vessels. There may be times where you would also conduct dockside monitoring.

Job description/duties:
Collect data for fishing effort, location, and retained and discarded catch for each tow while aboard each vessel. Tallying incidental take of marine mammals, sea turtles and sea birds from fishing platforms.
Primary responsibility will be collect accurate actual weights on the discard portion of the catch as well as account for all catch kept and discarded on each tow.
All data must be reported electronically in a standard acceptable form to NMFS within 48 hours of the completion of the trip.
Collecting biological samples and specimens from postmortem animals.
Groundfish vessels operate out of ports from New York to Maine.
Expected to work no more than 12 hours per day at sea and several hours on shore after a trip.
Trips range from 1-14 days in duration.
Vessels are generally 30-100 feet in length.
Must be willing to travel occasionally to cover locations other than their primary ports.

Qualifications:
BS Degree in Biology
Minimum of 30 biology credits
One basic math course
College level Statistics course
Previous experience with data entry/collection
Reliable personal vehicle transportation with valid Driver’s license
Must be certified in Red Cross CPR and First Aid before attending training
Pass background check
Reference checks

Training:
Two week long training to be held in East Falmouth, Massachusetts, tentatively in April/May of 2010.
Contracts are a mandatory 1-year commitment.
Pass marine mammal ID exam, Fish ID lab, and Fish ID open book lab with a score of at least 85% each.
Successfully complete the 3 training trip requirement as part of the training
Complete homework and reading assignments.

Please email your resume with a cover letter to yani@saltwaterinc.com. Updated information will be emailed to all interested applicants as it becomes available.