Salmonid Trap Technician - Scientific Technician - Non

Salmonid Trap Technician

Classification:
Scientific Technician 2

Job Status:
Full-Time/Non-Permanent

Appointment/Season Length: 9.75 Months – August 3, 2026 – May 31, 2027

Program:
Fish Program – Hatchery-Wild Interactions Division

Duty Station:
Dayton, Washington – Columbia County

Are you passionate about ensuring sustainable fish and wildlife recreational and commercial opportunities? With your experience, you will collect, analyze, and report data relevant to multiple ESA-listed steelhead and fall Chinook populations.

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

• Adult and juvenile salmonid weir/trap construction, installation, daily maintenance, and data collection.
• Conduct daily adult and juvenile trap checks.
• Assist with trap repair, construction, instream installation, and weir/trap removal.
• Collect, record, and ensure accurate physical and biological (species, size, and scale samples) data and field observations in a timely manner to keep field summaries up to date.
• Make trap operation decisions based on observations of environmental conditions.
• Safely handle and anesthetize adult and juvenile ESA-listed salmonids and other fish species.
• PIT tagging adult and juvenile salmonids.
• Prep and maintain field gear for daily use.
• Assist with the Fall Chinook Program at the Snake River Lab.
• Participate in weekly spawning activities at Lyons Ferry Hatchery during fall chinook spawning.
• Conduct spawning ground/carcass fall chinook surveys in Lower Tucannon River (ability to walk 3‑4 miles in a stream under all weather conditions).
• Perform fish  biological data collection at Lower Granite Dam fish trap.
• QA/QC of data, reconciliation, and summarization.
• Pick eggs, retrieve and read CWT, scale, and otolith samples.
• Cooperate with and maintain professional demeanor with partner agencies (NOAA, Nez Perce Tribe, Corps of Engineers, Anchor QEA).
• Assist with other duties as required, including spawning ground surveys for spring chinook or summer steelhead, hook-and-line sampling of residual hatchery steelhead, data entry on multiple platforms, data QA/QC, and PIT tag database management.
• Provide assistance to Fish Science, Fish Management, and Hatcheries Division as directed by the supervisor.
• Assist with mass PIT tagging activities at Lyons Ferry Hatchery as needed.

Work setting is a combination of office and field duties, including in-stream adult traps and weirs, juvenile rotating screw traps, Lyons Ferry Hatchery, stream surveys (3‑4 miles), and Lower Granite Adult fish trap. Tasks may involve working in or near water and negotiating water environments.

Schedule:

Generally day shift, 8‑10 hours per day, including weekends. Peak field seasons may involve non-standard hours (weekends, evenings, nights, holidays) and weeks in excess of 40 hours.

Travel:
No overnight travel is expected. Daily travel is required for juvenile and adult traps, field surveys, spawning activities at Lyons Ferry, Tucannon River, or other southeastern Washington locations, and Lower Granite Dam.

Customer Interactions:
May interact with private landowners during routine field trap checks, and public visitors during spawning surveys. At Lower Granite, primary interactions are with staff from NOAA Fisheries, but occasionally with Army Corps of Engineers, Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho Fish and Game, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Required Qualifications:

• High school diploma or GED, plus one year of high school science.
• Two (2) years of professional or volunteer experience as a Scientific Technician, or as an assistant to a biologist, chemist, or zoologist.
• College coursework in biology, zoology, fisheries, chemistry, natural sciences, or closely allied fields (at least six semester or nine quarter hours of natural science) may substitute for experience on a year‑for‑year basis.
• Valid driver’s license.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proficiency in safe handling and anesthetization of adult and juvenile ESA-listed salmonids.
• Experience identifying juvenile and adult salmonids and other fish species of southeastern Washington and the Lower Snake…