Position Description:

River Herring Monitoring Assistant

Background
The Coalition for Buzzards Bay is a private, non-profit membership organization dedicated to the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of Buzzards Bay and its watershed. Founded in 1987, the organization pursues its mission through education, conservation, research and advocacy. Specific programs include: a bay-wide Water Quality Monitoring Program which utilizes volunteers to sample water quality along the bay coastline from Westport to Woods Hole; a Bay Lands Center supporting the conservation of important watershed open space; education programs for all ages; and a BayKeeper® advocacy program to support the cleanup and protection of Buzzards Bay. The Coalition is managed by an 18 member volunteer Board of Directors and maintains a full time staff of 14 at its offices on the Acushnet River Estuary in New Bedford.

Position Description
The River Herring Monitoring Assistant is responsible for monitoring the anadromous fish run yearly count in the Acushnet River, New Bedford, and the Wankinko and Agawam Rivers in Wareham. Through the collection of biological and water chemistry information, the Monitoring Assistant performs field tasks in order to collect accurate population size estimates. This part-time, entry level position reports directly to the Director of Monitoring Programs. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Assist with installation of River Herring monitoring instrumentation in coastal streams.
  
  
• Collect and record information on daily river herring numbers from electronic instrumentation.
  
  
• Daily maintenance tasks to monitor, repair, and clean the weirs and maintain in-stream counting instrumentation.
  
  
• Deploy and record water temperature and information on water quality monitoring instrumentation.
  
  
• Work with USGS on a local video fish monitoring system, download video recordings, archive video data, and review video data files.
  
  
• Work with citizen volunteer herring monitors, and town and state herring officials.
  
  
• Compile and graph fish counts from monitoring for final population estimates for the 2008 season.
  
  
• Assist with additional watershed water quality  and natural resource monitoring activities at The Coalition for Buzzards Bay offices, if time permits.

Qualifications
Experience in the field of environmental monitoring, including both field data collection and data compilation data entry/management experience. Job will be a mix of outdoor monitoring and fieldwork, contacting and working with volunteers, data entry, and video analysis work. Candidates should have a high energy level, be well-organized, and be able to work well with all volunteers. The candidate should be capable of performing hard work involved with monitoring in the field. The Assistant will need to have his/her own reliable transportation. Knowledge of Buzzards Bay, southeastern Massachusetts, and ability to identify marine fish common in Massachusetts' coastal waters helpful.

Personal Characteristics
Enthusiastic commitment to the mission of The Coalition for Buzzards Bay. Ability to work both independently and as part of a team. Comfortable in the field under physical conditions. Ability to work with volunteers and environmental leaders in an effective manner. Candidate must possess excellent communication skills, possess a talent for multi-tasking, and take initiative.

Salary/Benefits
This is a temporary (March-June), part-time position. The schedule is variable and averages 25 hours per week for a daily 7 day work week for this position. Salary is $12.00 per hour. Travel will be reimbursed at $0.44 per mile.

To Apply
Interested applicants should respond with a letter, resume, and references to: Tony Williams, Director of Monitoring Programs, The Coalition for Buzzards Bay, 620 Belleville Ave., New Bedford, Massachusetts 02745 or e-mail williams@savebuzzardsbay.org. Interested applicants may apply for one or both of the Monitoring Programs positions currently advertised.

The Coalition for Buzzards Bay is an Equal Opportunity Employer

February 2008