Join the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) mission to preserve and protect native salmon and wildlife, and provide sustainable fishing, hunting, and other wildlife-related recreational and commercial opportunities!
Be part of a dynamic and diverse team that is invested in making a difference in the conservation of Washington State’s salmon population.
As Ocean Fishery Manager, you will have the responsibility for the management of economically valuable ocean commercial and recreational salmon fisheries. You will support the representative for the State of Washington on the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (PFMC) Salmon Technical Team (STT), and represent ocean resource and fishery interests in statewide, inter-state and coast-wide forums including the federal PFMC and the state-tribal sponsored "North of Cape Falcon" forum.
With that in mind, picture yourself promoting a healthy economy, protecting community character, maintaining an overall high quality of life, and delivering high quality customer service. This is a dynamic role where you will conduct fishery planning and data analysis allowing maximum fishing opportunities in economically depressed coastal communities, while assuring that conservation objectives are met for long-term fishery sustainability.
We are seeking candidates who will interact with the public both during fishing seasons and during the preseason planning processes answering questions, explaining policy, and recommending regulatory actions, and distributing catch and quota information and projections. This is an opportunity to build an effective and efficient organization by supporting our workforce, improving business processes, and investing in technology.
If you thrive on building collaboration and teamwork, you will be excited to mentor and help develop staff and, in turn, train, mentor, and evaluate technical staff beginning their careers in natural resource management. You will help develop skills, knowledge, and positive work ethic in both professional and technical parts of our workforce.
Responsibilities of our Ocean Fishery Manager:
Manages ocean recreational and commercial salmon fisheries. Tasks include:
- Designing and implementing annual ocean fishery sampling (salmon, halibut, groundfish, and albacore fisheries) and researching plans, ensuring compliance with state, federal, and tribal management agreements.
- Analyzing and interpreting data from ocean salmon fisheries in-season to estimate catch and formulating regulatory recommendations to ensure attainment of state and federal management objectives consistent with conservation and allocation for Endangered Species Act (ESA) Listed and other critical salmon stocks, the PFMC FMP, and the management plans and needs of other affected state, tribal and federal management agencies.
Manages, leads, and administers the WDFW Ocean Sampling Program. Tasks include:
- Leading, planning, training, supervising, and mentoring the work performed by the Ocean Sampling Program; and enhancing the effectiveness of employees through timely appraisal and professional development opportunities.
- Managing annual budget including expenditure allocation, tracking, and grant/contract development.
Represents the agency at public and/or professional meetings as assigned, including the North of Cape Falcon salmon season setting process and regulation hearings. Tasks include:
- Providing technical assistance and advice to members of agency administration, multi-jurisdictional colleagues and constituents and the public on ocean salmon management; and working with constituents to develop regulatory proposals.
- Providing support to the Salmon Technical Team (STT) representative in developing reports and inputs used in modeling proposed ocean fishery regulations.
Disseminates information on ocean seasons and management actions to the public. Tasks include:
- Interacting with the public both in person and by phone and email answering questions, explaining the pre-season planning process and sampling policy, and distributing catch and quota information.
Report writing and distribution. Tasks include:
- Writing and distributing annual Ocean Mark Selective Fishery report, annual Ocean Fishery Sampling Plan, progress, and final reports for federal funding contracts.
- Publishing data analysis in and contributes to writing the STT Annual Review of Ocean Fisheries, and Preseason Reports I, II, and III.
WORKING CONDITIONS:
Work Setting, including hazards:
- Work occurs in the Office 90% and in the field 10% of the time.
- In the field, may spend several hours standing/walking during training periods (work may be very fast paced).
- Tasks may include lifting, handling, and manipulating fish up to 60 pounds and carrying gear up to 20 pounds; negotiating steep ramps, slippery surfaces, and unstable docks; and boarding vessels.
- In office, long hours of computer work and time on the phone.
Schedule:
- Standard workdays are Monday – Friday; business hours are 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, with occasional weekend work and long hours (frequent long hours and weekend work during March-September).
Travel Requirements:
- Travel to ports within Washington may include up to 8 hours driving in a day.
- Occasional overnight stays may occur.
- In-state and out of state travel during pre-season planning process (up to 8 consecutive days).
Tools and Equipment:
- PC, iPad, knives, scissors, tweezers, hemostats, PFD, CWT detection equipment.
Customer Interactions:
- Communicates frequently with the public in person, by phone, and in writing answering questions, explaining policy, regulatory processes, and distributing catch, quota, and regulatory information.
- Coordinates with other states, tribal biologists, and federal managers and biologists.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
A Bachelor's degree with major study in a natural science (Fish Science, Fish Management, Biology, etc.).
AND
Five (5) years of progressively higher responsible management experience in natural resources.
OR
Professional equivalent experience may substitute, year for year, for the education requirement – this experience must be in aquatic natural resources, fish, wildlife, or natural resource management.
Please Note: A Master's degree with a relevant specialty may substitute for one (1) year of the required experience and a Ph.D. for two (2) years.
Certifications/License:
- A Valid Driver's License.
Experience:
- Supervising in a natural science setting.
- Communicating scientific information to a broad audience.
- Writing or contributing to scientific reports based on data analysis.
- Leading a team around a project or task.
- Resolving conflict as a leader of a team.
In-depth understanding of:
- Fish conservation and fisheries management principles.
- Endangered Species Act (ESA) law.
- Tribal Law.
- Ocean fisheries gear groups, allocation structure, and rulemaking procedures.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Job knowledge:
- Demonstrated leadership, team-building, and supervisory skills.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to work independently to proactively solve problems and make critical decisions in a fast-paced environment.
- Advanced computer, data processing, and analytical skills, across multiple hardware and software environments.
- Experience in program management; budget development; management; and natural resource management issues.
- Aptitude with methods of biological data collection, interpretation, and presentation.
- Development of cooperative relationships internally and with other agencies; principles of negotiating; and oral presentations skills to communicate effectively when presenting complex information to professional, technical, and public audiences.
- Experience with experimental design, sample design, creel sampling, and fishery survey methods; recreational and commercial salmon fisheries.
- Contract development and administration.
Ability to:
- Conduct data analysis and make inferences from data.
- Organize and prioritize work for self and others.
- Provide constructive correction, redirection and discipline when needed.
- Develop effective objectives, timelines, and action plans.
- Negotiate effectively.
- Use critical thinking in collecting, recording, compiling, and analyzing data.
- Coalesce team building and leadership and ability to work independently and as a team member.
Title: Natural Resource Scientist 3 / Ocean Fishery Manager
Location: Grays Harbor County – Montesano, WA
Job Category: Full time Positions
Salary: $5,102.00 - $6,691.00 Monthly
Last Date to Apply: 08/11/2021
