Fisheries Technician - White Sturgeon Monitoring

Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission is seeking a self-motivated and high performing Fisheries Technician 2 to assist with a fishery-independent White Sturgeon population dynamics monitoring project. The position will be stationed in West Sacramento, CA at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

The individual will work with a PSMFC Fishery Biologist, CDFW Environmental Scientist, and other PSMFC fisheries technicians to assist with the following three primary project components:

• Fishery-independent mark‑recapture study using setline fishing.
• Sonar surveys in the spawning reaches of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers.
• Acoustic tagging of sturgeon handled during setline surveys.

The setline study’s mark‑recapture data are needed to estimate abundance metrics (age‑class abundance and relative abundance index) of White Sturgeon in the San Francisco Estuary. These data will be used to inform management for White Sturgeon, which became a candidate species for listing under the California Endangered Species Act in June 2024.

Sonar surveys in the upper reaches of the Sacramento and San Joaquin River will provide the data needed for estimating the number of spawning White Sturgeon adults, which can be used as an additional abundance metric for informing management controls in the recreational fishery. Additionally, information on the reproductive portion of the population can be paired with juvenile abundance indices from other data sources to establish spawner‑recruitment relationships over time.

Acoustic tagging will provide insight on behavior and movement patterns in White Sturgeon as they migrate within the estuary and upriver for spawning activities. In addition to acoustic tagging, sex will be identified and gonadal tissue samples will be taken for additional analysis.

The primary responsibilities of the position will be to assist with the daily operations of each project component, including data collection and analysis, deploying and retrieving fishing gear, maintenance and repair of gear, preparing bait, data summaries (sturgeon tagged, sturgeon recaptured), and field notes of importance to project supervisors (e.g., repair/maintenance/purchasing needs, difficulties in the field). In collaboration with the Lead Biologist, the incumbent will contribute to drafting a yearly report summarizing project activities.

This position will be expected to perform setline surveys, sonar surveys, and tagging duties on various vessels at specific locations in the San Francisco Estuary and Sacramento River, and these duties may occur during weekends and holidays. Fieldwork will be weather dependent and under a 4/10 schedule (four 10‑hour days per week).

Competency:

• Initiative: identifies what needs to be done and takes appropriate actions.
• Communication: has the ability to make clear and concise oral and written communication to fishery scientists and to the general public.
• Ethics and integrity: performs duties with professionalism, honesty, and earned respect of staff and other agency personnel.

Science:

• Knowledge of fishery management practices that include fish population dynamics, fish biology, and stream ecology.
• Experience in various fish sampling methods.
• Ability to compile and collect neat and accurate data.
• Competency in computer applications and software used to store and/or analyze data.
• Scientific writing skills.

• Valid driver’s license.
• Lift 40–50 lbs.
• Repair and maintain equipment.

• Fish identification skills, specifically knowledge of species residing in the San Francisco Bay/Delta.
• Previous experience handling and taking morphometric measurements of fish.
• Experience collecting environmental data using water quality multiparameter sondes.
• Experience deploying, maintaining, and repairing fisheries sampling gear.
• Experience conducting simple analyses in R and GIS programs.

Included in this band are skilled technician positions. Some functions performed by employees can be identical to those performed by fishery biologists at the entry-level or advanced…