Ocean Career: Lynker Junior Field Research Support Specialist

Junior Field Research Support Specialist

Duties of the Junior Field Research Support Specialist:

• Participate in aerial surveys. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of aerial surveys, there are different tasks simultaneously occurring. Each task requires specialized skills (described below). The Contractor personnel must possess specialized skills for multiple tasks; however, a contractor is not required to possess the skills for all the tasks.
• Participate in shipboard surveys. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of shipboard surveys, there are many different tasks simultaneously. Each task requires specialized skills (described below). The Contractor personnel must possess specialized skills for multiple tasks; however, a contractor is not required to possess the skills for all the tasks.
• Participate in alternative platform surveys (and survey design) including, but not limited to unmanned systems (e.g. drones, gliders, saildrone, satellite etc) to support tasks 7a and b above.
• Participate in handling animals and biological samples in the field and in a lab. This includes, but is not limited to the collection, processing, and storage of biological materials.

All tasks include:

• The target species are survey-specific and may include, but are not limited to: marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds, fish, plankton, and invertebrates.
• Use and maintenance of Government provided equipment, protocols (such as for data collection, recording, and editing, processing, and archiving), manuals, training, and electronic data entry systems
• Assist preparations for and de-staging from field projects.
• Contribute to cruise reports.

Field Research Support:
Specialized Skills include but are not limited to a subset of the following:

• Visually identify and record marine mammals, sea turtles, seabird or fish species.
• Take photographs (from various devices such as handheld cameras, mounted camera systems, drones, or other similar devices) that are of sufficient quality to be used to identify species and to identify the individual animal for only relevant species using Government provided protocols.
• Assist in operating, deploying and retrieving Government- provided acoustic instruments.
• Assist in operating Government-provided active acoustic instruments (such as EK60s).
• Assist in operating Government-provided biological sampling devices (such as, but not limited to, bongo nets, trawls, visual plankton recorders) or physical oceanographic instrumentation.
• Assist in collecting, recording, processing, editing, and archiving data (collected from any platform) using government-provided protocols and equipment.
• Assist in collecting, tagging, recording, processing, analyzing, editing, shipping, and archiving biological sampling data (including whole bodies) using Government provided protocols and equipment, including but not limited to full animal necropsies, identifying prey items in stomach samples, dealing with biopsy and tissue samples.
• Assist applying and maintaining animal-borne tags (such as, but not limited to flipper, PIT, satellite, and suction cup), where type of tag is species- and purpose-specific using appropriate capture and handling methods.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Have 20+ hours of experience successfully performing one or more of the Field Research Support Specialized Skills below:
• Task 7a Aerial surveys – The surveys are conducted from cities with appropriate fixed based operations that can support the aircraft and are conveniently located to the at-sea study area. Traditionally the main airport used is in Hyannis, MA, but other US or international airports may also be used.
• Task 7b Shipboard surveys – The surveys are conducted, primarily in the North Atlantic U.S. waters, though international and waters of other countries may also be surveyed.
• Task 7c Alternative platforms – The surveys are conducted, primarily in the North Atlantic U.S. waters, though international and waters of other countries may also be surveyed.
• Task 7d Handling biological samples – These activities are conducted on or related to one of the platforms in Tasks 7a-7c or in a land-based laboratory located primarily in the U.S., though may also be in other countries.
• Proficient computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel); some experience with data management, analytical reporting, and environmental and biological data is strongly preferred.

Salary range: USD $45,000.00 – USD $57,000.00 /Yr.