Fisheries Biologist

Astor Environmental: Fisheries Biologist

If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact Astor Environmental LLC at 503-812-0679 to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.

Astor Environmental LLC (Astor) is seeking candidates to support the NOAA Fisheries Fish Ecology Division at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) in developing habitat valuation models for listed Pacific salmon species to support consultations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

Background: In 1999, Puget Sound Chinook salmon were listed as threatened under the ESA. Listings under the ESA mandate NOAA Fisheries take several actions including the development of recovery plans as well as the designation and protection of critical habitat. Under ESA Section 7, NOAA is required to provide consultations on permitted activities that may have adverse effects on designated habitat to ensure critical habitat remains protected and/or sufficient mitigation is achieved. To-date, the majority of consultations are done on a case-by-case basis whereby NOAA biologists determine the likelihood of adverse affect and the associated mitigation requirements for individual applicants. Such a method can suffer from inconsistency and result in backlogs should the number of consultations far exceed available NOAA staff. Developing tools that improve the accuracy, efficiency, and transparency of the consultation process are of high priority.

Accurately quantifying fish – habitat relationships is critical for successful habitat restoration/conservation in support of population recovery for listed species. Habitat valuation models are used to translate these relationships into key population parameters (e.g. abundance, growth, productivity) as a function of habitat gains or losses. Specifically, these models use known relationships between habitat attributes and fish populations to determine the relative value of a given location based upon the loss/gain of function for listed species and, if applicable, predict the level of mitigation required for permitted actions. Incorporating knowledge of habitat function and population response into a systematic or programmatic tool will increase the accuracy and significantly improve the efficiency and transparency of the consultation process reducing the burden on both NOAA biologists and permit applicants. 

Under this task order, the employee, in partnership with the Fish Ecology Division at NWFSC and the NOAA West Coast Regional Office, will develop habitat valuation models for listed Pacific salmon species to support consultations under the ESA. This work will focus on creating a new model for estuarine habitats and update current models for nearshore environments. Specifically, the contractor will aggregate and synthesize estuary and nearshore marine habitat data at multiple scales to correlate with existing fish data to create a predictive tool to evaluate the relative values of specific locations and the estimated functional value for fish populations for determining mitigation needs. Tool(s) developed under this contract will directly enable NOAA to fulfill its mission to protect critical habitat for listed populations of Chinook salmon. New models may build off previously developed valuation model frameworks for Puget Sound nearshore habitats but should seek improvements regarding model sensitivity, uncertainty, and improved user interface to increase efficiency. In addition, model components quantifying habitat contribution to salmonid food webs may assist concurrent efforts to incorporate food web dynamics into salmon life cycle models.

Duties:

• Support the NMFS Fish Ecology Division in developing habitat valuation models for estuarine habitats to support ESA consultations for listed Pacific salmon and steelhead populations. 
  • Assist staff scientists with creating a framework for habitat valuation in estuarine ecosystems to reflect accurate fish—habitat relationships for Pacific salmon species. 
• Provide critical updates to Puget Sound Nearshore Conservation Calculator adjustment factors.
  • Assist staff scientists, and in collaboration with the NOAA Regional Office, with updating and revising specific components of the Puget Sound Nearshore Conservation Calculator. 
  • Support improvements to the adjustment factors through the development of a spatially explicit salmon distribution tool (aka “salmon heat map”) that incorporates several habitat and environmental metrics relevant to salmon use of nearshore marine shorelines throughout the region.

Start Date: ASAP

Location: NWFSC Montlake Lab, Seattle, WA

Salary and Benefits: This is a full-time position with a generous benefit package. Salary: $33.00 to $36.00 per hour.

Required Knowledge and Experience:

• Education – MS degree, or higher, from an accredited college or university with a focus directly related to a field of study as described above with emphasis in ecology, fisheries, statistics, natural sciences
• Experience – 1 to 2 years of relevant experience, including with general salmon ecology, familiarity with estuarine and freshwater ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest, quantitative and spatial analysis in R and ARC GIS. PhD may be substituted for experience.

Only qualified applicants that meet minimum experience or background requirements stated above need apply.

To apply, visit: Astor Environmental: Fisheries Biologist Application