Hatchery Genetic Management ESA & NEPA

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Remote-United States

2 days ago Requisition

Salary Range: $37.00 To $43.00 Hourly

NOTE:

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Ocean Associates Inc. (OAI) is seeking a scientific and technical professional to complete Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) effects evaluations and support ongoing and new consultation requests for the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) West Coast Region (WCR). OAI is a Virginia corporation established in 2003 that provides consulting and technical services to the U.S. government, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and the private sector.

We specialize in scientific program and project management, strategic planning, professional and technical services and stakeholder engagement, supporting government contracts.

NOAA’s NMFS received funding under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to address deferred maintenance and repairs to hatcheries that produce Pacific salmon and steelhead in support of federally recognized tribes with federally reserved fishing rights. IRA funds will be provided to hatcheries funded by the Mitchell Act to support high-priority deferred maintenance for hatcheries for federally recognized tribes’ federally-reserved fishing rights in the Columbia River Basin.

IRA funds will also be provided for Non-Mitchell Act Hatcheries and will support deferred maintenance needs for hatcheries that support federally recognized tribes’ federally reserved fishing rights outside the Columbia River Basin (e.g., in the States of California, Alaska, and throughout western Washington).

Over the next several years, tribes will identify priority hatchery facilities that require funding to complete deferred maintenance that currently operate individual hatchery programs (hereafter, Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans, or “HGMPs”) producing salmon and steelhead. The HGMPs are largely implemented to provide adult fish for harvest in tribal and State fisheries as mitigation for lost natural-origin salmonid production. Funding deferred maintenance may lead to in-water work, and potentially alteration of production levels of salmon and steelhead at any facility deemed eligible.

Depending on the watershed where a facility operates, there can be multiple ESA-listed “threatened” or “endangered” anadromous salmonid populations under NMFS regulatory purview that may be affected by facility maintenance activities, construction, or operational modifications. As such, much if not all of the activities associated with awarding funds from the IRA towards deferred maintenance of tribal hatchery facilities will require ESA review and approval by NMFS to ensure their effects (“takes”) do not jeopardize listed salmon and steelhead populations.

The NMFS review and determination processes require completion of several effects evaluation and determination documents consistent with ESA and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. We expect tribal and/or federal managers will submit the necessary plans for assessment of the adequacy of the activities under section 10, section 7(a)(2), or Limits 4, 5 or 6 of the salmon and steelhead rule under section 4(d) of the ESA.

The work may require assembling information on species status and life history specific to the stocks at issue using the Viable Salmonid Population framework and technical analysis including trend analysis and risk…