Job Announcement
BBSRI is looking to hire vessel technicians for the upcoming 2025 Port Moller Test Fishery Season. This position provides the opportunity to spend a summer at sea in Bristol Bay and build valuable work experience for a career in fisheries biology. The data collected by this project serves a critical role in the management, logistics and fleet operations of the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.
We are seeking applicants who are accustomed to, or will be able to embrace, life at sea for 40+ days and will be able to perform their position duties in adverse conditions. This position entails working long hours on a regular basis, with few, if any, days at shore. Technicians must be able to consistently collect high-quality and reliable data, and maintain communication with project managers to meet project objectives.
Working Conditions
Technicians will spend approximately 3 days in Anchorage receiving training and preparing for the season, travel to their vessels in Seward or Dutch Harbor, and the rest of the season will be spent in at sea. Vessels will be equipped with personal bunks (likely in shared rooms), a full kitchen, shower, laundry, and StarLink satellite internet. The average work week will be 8 hours of work per day, 7 days per week, with longer days during the beginning and ends of the season and during the peak of the sockeye run. Typical daily work duties include setting and retrieving a 200 fathom gillnet 5-6 times per day, collecting age/sex/length/genetic data from sockeye salmon, data management and electronic commiunication of data to project managers. Technicians will be expected to perform other crew duties onboard the vessel, including net mending, cleaning and cooking at the request of the captain or senior crew.
Travel costs from Anchorage to the vessels and back will be covered by BBSRI, but not travel to/from Anchorage at the beginning and end of the season.
Work Schedule: 7 days per week, 8-10 hours per day, 56 hours per week (typically). Overtime eligible. Guaranteed minimum of 8 hours of pay on weather and travel days. As this is a field position, no schedule flexibility or leave is permitted during the season, except in case of emergency.
Duties and Responsibilities
Key responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to:
• Sort and sample adult sockeye salmon catch for scales (age), sex, and length (ASL data) according to net mesh size (panel).
• Collect and enter data using paper data sheets, tablets and computers.
• Organize and transmit ASL data files and electronically deliver to designated distribution list.
• Handle salmon for delivery to tenders and/or shoreside processing plant.
• Communicate daily with research scientists regarding fishing and sampling efforts via texting, emails and phone calls; implement all changes to sampling protocols based on these discussions.
• Report daily catch and effort information to the project manager and research statistician via texts and email.
• Work closely with the vessel crew and project managers to complete project objectives.
• Upload catch data at the end of each day.
• Live and work cooperatively aboard a research vessel.
• One of the vessels will have a scale card pressing and imaging laboratory that PMTF technicians will operate. Additional training and responsibilities will be given to technicians operating the at-sea scale lab.
• Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience at sea, working aboard fishing vessels, and (ideally) picking fish from a gillnet.
• Experience collecting fisheries or other biological data.
• Experience with data entry and management on a computer.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Windows environment and file management.
• Good organizational skills and able to conduct duties at sea in a range of weather and sea conditions.
• Able to work on a deck that is pitching and rolling and not be incapacitated by motion sickness.
• Able to communicate effectively and efficiently any project operational and sampling protocol issues to supervisors.
• Get along with people with a variety of backgrounds and capabilities.
How To Apply
To Apply send the following documents to Sam Harris (sam@bbsri.org)
A current resume, including academic background, employment history and 2-3 references
A cover letter detailing your interest in the position and any relevant skills/experience