Ocean Career: Northwest Indian Fisheries Marine Scientist III – Quileute Indian Tribe

Marine Scientist III

The Marine Scientist III will operate directly under the Marine Policy Advisor/Marine Program Manager to provide effective and efficient project leadership and administration to complete marine program functions. The position will be responsible for evaluating marine resources within the Quileute Tribe's Usual and Accustomed Hunting and Fishing Areas (U &

A). This position will provide expertise in identifying and prioritizing marine species important to the Quileute Tribe, both culturally and economically.

For the technical duties, this position will need to combine aspects of marine ecosystems management and analysis. In particular, this position coordinates the sampling of tribal marine resources to provide safety in the consumption of these resources and their sustainability. The Quileute Tribe has a well-equipped shellfish/water quality laboratory, including a wide variety of equipment for analysis of water and tissues samples.

In addition, this position is inclusive of developing and maintaining relationships with other tribal, state, and federal laboratories engaged in analysis of marine resources. This position will coordinate activities and function of the shellfish/water quality lab.

• Implement Quality Assurance/Quality Control Methodology for marine resource sampling, with protocol for field sampling, lab tests, analysis, and data distribution. This involves keeping up with literature and conferences regarding techniques and adapting them to our needs.
• Design and conduct fieldwork, which may involve small boat operations and working at sea aboard large research vessels and fishing boats.
• Oversee a multitude of marine resource monitoring and research projects (biotoxin, forage fish, marine mammals, groundfish).
• Write scientific papers, reports and grant proposals and present findings at workshops and conferences.
• Supervise shellfish technician(s).
• Participate in the deployment and recovery of instruments located in the Pacific Ocean, ensure data streams are maintained.
• Manage data and analyze large data sets, provide data to public platforms for sharing with other scientists. Familiarity with statistical, modeling, and geographic information system software desired.
• Coordinate with QNR staff to plan, implement, and evaluate marine resource harvest activities, as impacted by return of data, including public health warning systems.
• Coordinate with other governments in meetings on shellfish, water quality, and public health.
• Coordinate with QNR staff regarding formulation of policy and regulatory recommendations for proper management of shellfish (from a health and biological standpoint). This may involve population studies or other types of assessments for areas co-managed by the Tribe.
• Determine budget and staffing requirements for projects and seek funding sources. As directed by Marine Policy Advisor, provide QNR perspectives at intertribal, federal, international, and state forums regarding marine resource issues related to management, utilization (harvest) and understanding marine ecosystem function and processes.
• Requires interaction with tribal, state and federal programs engaged in activities that can affect tribal marine resources; this will include a variety of tasks such as participating in the planning, development and analysis of state and federal rule making processes this can include:
  National Environmental Policy Act documents (EA's, EIA's), Fishery Management Plans, Marine Protected Area measures, Ocean Policy Plans and implementation, Essential Fish Habitat Designations, and Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment.
• Develop Marine Resource Management Plans for tribal resource utilization practices.
• Review permits and discharge reports within the U & A that may impact marine resources.
• Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge of:

• Marine aquatic ecosystems and associate biota.
• Fish biology with emphasis on Pacific Northwest species.
• Deployment and recovery of ocean instruments.
• Ability to work independently (self-starter) but also to accept supervision and work within a team (will coordinate with supervisor, other biologists, and grant writer).
• Design of sampling strategies to obtain ecosystem health, population assessments, and laboratory analysis of biotoxins.
• Ability to define research/assessment problems and plan and direct projects, write proposals, organize and present scientific testimony, formulate agreements.
• Strong writing skills;
  Competence with Microsoft programs;
  Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Explorer.
• Established skills in both the field and laboratory environment for following strict protocols conducting marine species identification such as plankton, tissue, and water analysis.
• Working knowledge of operations of small and large vessels at sea.
• Familiarity with fishing and oceanographic monitoring equipment.
• The candidate must develop programs, data collection methods, and computer…