The EFS (Environmental and Fisheries Sciences) Division performs research that addresses the influence of factors such as vaccines, dietary supplements, temperature, and contaminants on disease and predation of fish.
The development of finfish aquaculture relies on the rearing of healthy fish. Disease occurs during commercial culture, wasting valuable time, resources, and products. Disease management issues will only increase as global temperatures and demand for aquaculture products increase. The EFS Division conducts research in the areas of aquatic animal health and disease in order to assess and minimize the impact of diseases on both important cultured and wild species. These areas of research are important to the Center’s research programs with finfish and shellfish aquaculture as well as characterizing disease interactions between and among both wild and cultured species.
Duties/Responsibilities:
- Perform husbandry for aquatic species (e.g., salmon, sablefish) reared and held at the laboratory facility.
- Required husbandry practices shall include: cleaning tanks and troughs, changing filters, feeding aquatic species, moving and distributing aquatic species, monitoring growth of aquatic species and adjusting feeds and densities as needed, measuring water quality parameters, monitoring and maintaining system processes (e.g., heaters, chillers, pumps, filters) in order to produce healthy finfish and shellfish.
- Properly organize the laboratories, noting when supplies and resources need re-stocking, and maintaining needed safety and chemical hygiene practices.
- Participate in determining and analyzing pathogen challenges of fish, which includes culturing pathogens of fish/shellfish in agar and broth media, characterizing the pathogen using a variety of techniques (e.g., media culture, spectrophotometer, PCR) and properly storing frozen bacterial stock for later experiments.
- Expose fish/shellfish to pathogens, collect samples by necropsy, collect mortalities, record data, and analyze results using established laboratory protocols in R Studio.
- Assist in method optimization and utilization of various assays in order to evaluate factors that may alter aquatic species’ health. Optimizing methods may include determining and obtaining experimental baselines for positive and negative controls, and range-finding of appropriate treatment levels in pilot studies. Method utilization involves applying assays in larger scale experiments using live aquatic species, tissues, and/or factors that may affect their health, e.g., stressors, pathogens, vaccines, feed additives.
Compensation:
Candidates will be paid an hourly rate to be negotiated and total compensation will vary depending on candidates’ availability. This is a full–time position. AIS benefits package includes health and dental insurance, vacation, sick and holiday benefits.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Master’s degree, or higher, from an accredited college or university with a major directly related in a field of study with emphasis in fisheries.
- 3–6 years of experience working in a laboratory setting.
- Experience with finfish husbandry.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Seven (7) years or more experience working in a laboratory setting.
- Experience in working with diseases that affect aquatic species.
- Experience in fish husbandry practices of aquatic species, and knowledge of water quality issues that may affect aquatic species.
- Experience in applying microbiological, chemical, and behavioral techniques that are applied to research questions on fish health.
