Salmon Stock Assessment Technician - Scientific Technician - Non-Perm

Job Title:

Salmon Stock Assessment Technician

Classification:
Scientific Technician 2

Job Status:
Full-Time/Non-Permanent

Appointment/Season Length: 4.5 Months – August 16, 2026 – December 31, 2026

WDFW Program:
Fish Program – Fish Management Division

Duty Station:
Port Townsend, Washington – Jefferson County

The salary listed above does not include the 2% pay increase that goes into effect on July 1, 2026.

Learn more about being a member of Team WDFW!

Are you passionate about the great outdoors and committed to promoting sustainable fishing opportunities? Join our team and turn your passion into a rewarding experience!

In this dynamic role, you will operate adult traps, conduct spawning surveys, conduct biological sampling, and enter and summarize data for the area biologist.

We are seeking a candidate to collect data to be used for stock assessment, recovery, planning, and research relating particularly to ESA listed species.

Among the varied range of responsibilities held within this role, this position will:

Conducting Summer Chum and Coho spawning surveys.

• Walking and/or rafting long stretches of rivers and creeks, counting live Salmonids, redds, and carcasses.
• Sampling spawned out Chum carcasses by taking length, sex, scales, DNA, and otoliths.
• Recording survey data in the digital platform FTS and organizing collected biological data samples.

Operating Adult Summer Chum traps and Assisting at the Snow Creek Weir.

• Assists with Broodstock collection and spawning for the Dungeness River Supplementation Program.
• Netting, handling, counting, and releasing live Salmonids from the traps.
• Properly identifying species and sex.
• Cleaning debris from traps and assessing trap integrity in higher flow conditions.
• Helping with trap installations and maintenance.
• Grounds maintenance at the Snow Creek Weir/trap sites/duty station field office.

Data Organization, Data Entry, QA/QC.

• Organizing trap and survey data, and biological samples.
• Entering data into Microsoft Access databases and Excel spreadsheets.
• Performing quality control checks on trap and survey data.

Working Conditions:

Work setting:
Primary duties are performed in field settings in and around rivers and streams, requiring walking up to five (5) miles per day over rugged, uneven, and often slippery terrain, both in and out of the water. The position involves frequent handling and sampling of fish weighing up to 50 pounds. Fieldwork is conducted in variable and sometimes extreme weather conditions.

Accessing field sites may require driving on roads that are partially flooded or covered in snow. This position may involve working in or near water, including tasks that require navigating, negotiating, and performing duties related to water environments including operating a pontoon in areas with potential hazards such as log jams.

Schedule:

Full-time, working 40 hours per week. Work shifts are not fixed and may vary based on operational needs. The standard work schedule requires flexibility. May be assigned work hours at any time within a 24-hour period.

Travel requirements:
Travel is required from the assigned duty station to river sites. Technicians will cover a large spatial area daily to survey. There is the possibility to use agency automobiles as well as personal vehicles if authorized.

Customer Interactions:
Communicate with project volunteers, the public, private landowners, and tribal co-managers.

Qualifications:

Required Qualifications:

Option 1:

Graduation from high school or GED, including one year of high school science, and two (2) years of experience as a Scientific Technician 1.

Option 2:

Graduation from high school or GED, including one year of high school science, and two (2) years of laboratory or field experience as an assistant to a biologist, chemist, or zoologist.

Please note:

College course work involving major study in biology, zoology, fisheries, chemistry, natural sciences, or closely allied field will substitute year-for-year for experience, provided the course work includes at least six semester or nine quarter hours of natural science classes.

License:
Valid driver's license.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Capability to identify river stage salmonids, and…