Advanced Fisheries Biological Scientist

POSITION DESCRIPTION :

The Advanced Fisheries Biological Scientist will support the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) by serving as a lead or senior team member on cooperative research projects that bring together scientists and members of the fishing industry to address complex fisheries science and management challenges. The position involves planning and conducting fieldwork aboard commercial and recreational fishing vessels, overseeing the collection, processing, and analysis of biological, habitat, and environmental data. The scientist will coordinate research design with partners, maintain project documentation, and support research-related regulatory compliance. Additional responsibilities include conducting advanced data analysis and modeling to support stock and ecosystem assessments, managing Oracle-based datasets, and producing technical documentation, visualizations, and peer-reviewed publications. The role also requires the development of outreach materials, logistical and operational support for fieldwork, and participation in scientific meetings and technical advisory groups. Strong collaboration, leadership, and communication skills are essential to effectively engage with industry, research partners, and policy audiences.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

• Participate substantively in all phases of research investigation, including problem definition, planning, execution, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of findings, and to analyze and prepare data for use in stock and ecosystem assessments and fisheries management.
• Serve as the lead investigator or team member on cooperative research projects that bring the science and fishing communities together to address research questions and data needs.
• Coordinate with research and industry partners in defining and refining research approaches, and shall provide regular updates to project teams, including external partners.
• Develop and maintain project documentation to ensure reproducibility of research, including metadata and protocol documents to support data processing.
• Assist in documentation and development of research-related permit applications and other environmental compliance.
• Communicate with collaborating fishing industry members about project goals, approaches, implementation, and results.
• Provide logistical and at-sea support for industry participants in cooperative research programs; including recruitment with community leaders, program introductions, port visits to identify set up requirements and constraints, equipment deployment and training, troubleshooting support and data collection.
• Participate in field research aboard commercial and recreational fishing vessels, and may be required to play a leadership role while at sea. This includes observation, collection, sorting and processing of fish catch, biological samples, oceanographic, habitat, video, and other fisheries data for use in scientific research.
• Extract relevant data sets, create data summaries, graphs, tables, charts, or data visualizations for technical publications, outreach documents, and leadership briefings.
• Assist in management of research data in Oracle databases, including but not limited to data auditing and data processing.
• Produce data and reports from sampling methods conducted at sea that require further on shore processing, including but not limited to video data, environmental sensors, habitat, photos, or other data types.
• Conduct statistical analysis and modeling exercises to understand fisheries, population, and ecosystem dynamics with collected data.
• Fulfill internal and external data requests, as needed.
• Produce technical documentation of research goals, protocols, methods, results, and applications for dissemination to the public, scientific community, and fishing industry.
• Develop and maintain collaborations with other scientists to progress the utility, application, and impact of cooperative research data in stock assessments, ecosystem-based fisheries science, fisheries oceanography, and other disciplines and management
• Participate in industry meetings, scientific symposia, workshops, stock assessment meetings, and conferences in order to share and advance NOAA projects.
• Operational support for cooperative research fieldwork.
• Assist in developing outreach materials, including user manuals, protocol documents, troubleshooting guides, newsletters and articles on Cooperative Research accomplishments, challenges and objectives.
• May be required to participate in dockside work and logistical support for at-sea work.
• May provide logistical and at-sea support for various cooperative research field programs.

REQUIREMENTS :

• Bachelor's degree with six (6) years' experience, or Master's degree with three (3) years' experience, or PhD with two (2) years' experience; degree and experience must be directly related to the individual requirement.
• Ability to work collaboratively with members of the commercial fishing industry, including working at sea and at the dock.
• Experience leading diverse research teams
• Experience collecting fisheries and oceanographic data.
• Extensive experience analyzing complex (i.e. fisheries) data sets.
• Extensive experience with identifying and developing solutions for challenges that arise operationally or analytically
• Extensive experience developing data visualizations for scientific audiences
• Experience writing technical reports and peer reviewed publications.
• Proficient in SQL and R software.
• Experience with in GitHub.
• Proficient in current MS Office software programs.
• Proficient in the primary G Suite tools include Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Calendar, Sites, and Meet.
• Hold a valid state drivers license with the ability to operate a Federal motor vehicle.