Fisheries Data Scientist
Lynker Technologies
Job Description
Title : Fisheries Data Scientist (R, GitHub, Open Source) - California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment
Background and Description :
Lynker is recruiting a Fisheries Data Scientist to support NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) Northwest Fisheries Science (NWFSC) Center in Seattle, WA.
Hiring for this position is contingent upon contract award.
The NWFSC provides science in support of managing living marine resources in the West Coast of Washington and Oregon, including interior watersheds that support anadromous fish such as salmon and steelhead.
NWFSC scientists are major contributors to the California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (CCIEA), an interdisciplinary research effort led by NMFS.
The CCIEA program's goal is to provide science support for ecosystem-based management of the California Current, a productive coastal ecosystem in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.
The ecosystem supports important fisheries and other human activities and provides services and cultural value for the tens of millions of people living along the U.
S. West Coast. CCIEA team research on the California Current ecosystem supports a number of federal mandates, including sustainable fisheries management as outlined under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), and conservation and recovery of protected species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Among the CCIEA's major products is an ecosystem status report (ESR) that is updated and presented each year. The primary audience is the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and many other management bodies, researchers and members of the public follow the reports as well.
The purpose of the ESRs is to provide regular updates and interpretation of data that describe the status and trends of physical, ecological, economic and social conditions in the California Current ecosystem, with particular focus on key fished species (salmon, coastal pelagic species, groundfish, and highly migratory species), protected species (marine mammals and seabirds), and human dimensions in fisheries and coastal communities.
A rapidly changing, multi-use ocean highlights the need for managers to have accessible, reliable, up-to-date information that is tailored to their ecosystem-based management goals and objectives.
Such information can support decisions such as opening or closing fisheries, adjustments to harvest policies, or responses to offshore planning requests.
However, we currently provide most ecosystem information once per year in the static ESRs, which have been labor-intensive to produce.
Lynker's Fisheries Data Scientist will modernize the generation, documentation, and reproducibility of California Current ESRs through the use of modern, open science tools and approaches (such as R scripts / packages for automation, RMarkdown / Quarto for report creation and automation and GitHub for workflow management).
The position may also support more rapid provision of ecosystem information in web-based summaries. These improvements should make ESR production more efficient and also enable us to generate accessible products that are tailored and timed to the Pacific Fishery Management Council's needs and schedules, and are also more useful to other researchers who make use of ESR data and content.
The Fisheries Data Scientist will lead activities and development of products that will improve ESR reproducibility, documentation, workflow, reproducibility, and visibility, in collaboration with CCIEA scientists.
These activities and deliverables should result in better service to the public through high-quality, timely reporting of ecosystem conditions on the West Coast.
Focal activities will include :
- 1) creating R packages that automate the pulling, processing, plotting, and archiving of ecosystem indicator data from online sources;
- 2) creating an open-source ESR template, including code to import indicator data plots and tables;
3) creating a GitHub workflow and repositories for ESR production; and
4) creating user guides and documentation for all ESR-related activities.
Depending on the rate of progress with these four, the Fisheries Data Scientist may participate in development of a public page on the CCIEA website featuring regular, automated indicator data updates and analyses.
Featured sets of data may mirror contents of recent ESRs, or be tailored to more specific or evolving needs of customers (e.
g., the Pacific Fishery Management Council) and collaborators (e.g., NMFS stock assessment biologists).
Duties :
Task One : templates and code for creating reproducible reports
1.1 Develop R packages that automate the pulling, processing, plotting, and archiving of West Coast ecosystem indicator data from online sources (e.g., ERDDAP, PacFIN)
1.2 Develop an open-source ecosystem status report template in RMarkdown or Quarto. Template should include code to import indicator data plots and tables, and adhere to agency standards (such as Section 508 Compliance) and predetermined specifications (such as figure and word counts)
1.3 Provide monthly (or as needed) progress updates and demonstrations to ecosystem status report editors and key collaborators to facilitate code and template co-development
Task Two : workflow and documentation
2.1 Lead and coordinate development of a transparent ecosystem status report workflow and data and code repositories
2.2 Create user guides and documentation describing the approaches, protocols, and practices of tasks performed in each of the R packages, which will ultimately be uploaded to the NOAA Internet Repository.
2.3 Create onboarding documentation for CCIEA collaborators to the workflow so that others are comfortable using, contributing to, and helping maintain this workflow as needed.
Task Three : Outreach, engagement, and other deliverables
3.1 In collaboration with CCIEA scientists, engage with Pacific Fishery Management Council staff and advisory bodies to match content and timing of ESR-related deliverables to needs
3.2 In collaboration with CCIEA scientists, engage with other NMFS teams and IEA regions that use similar approaches, in order to share code and tools, benefit from lessons learned, and minimize unnecessary duplication
3.3 If time allows, lead or support creation of automated ecosystem status report products on the CCIEA website, and / or automated conversion of the ecosystem status report into other formats, such as NOAA Tech Memos or Data Reports.
Minimum Required Qualifications
The Fisheries Data Scientist must meet or surpass the following requirements. (Applications should address each item listed below.)
Advanced degree (Master's or Ph.D.) from an accredited college or university with a major directly related in a field of study as related to the requirements of specific task order with emphasis in marine science, fisheries, quantitative ecology, oceanography, data science, or similar fields;
or, equivalent relevant experience
- Basic computer skills (MS Office, etc.)
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Demonstrated proficiency and experience with data management and statistical analysis, with statistical software such as R, SAS, MATLAB, etc.
and / or programming languages such as Python
- Demonstrated proficiency and experience with open source platforms for document generation (R Markdown, Quarto, etc.)
- Demonstrated proficiency and experience with developing, coordinating and managing workflows and repositories in GitHub
Additional Desired Qualifications
- Previous experience in web development, design and content management, or ability to learn, desired but not required
- Good communication, coordination and collaboration skills, and a willingness to learn new skills, update existing skills, and share skills with colleagues in the CCIEA team, through R Users Groups, etc.
Additional Information
The position is expected to be funded for two years, from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2025.
Domestic travel may be required for regional meetings and conferences to discuss and present project related work and objectives.
About Lynker
Lynker is a growing, employee owned, small business, specializing in professional, scientific and technical services. Our continually expanding team combines scientific expertise with mature, results-driven processes and tools to achieve technically sound, cost effective solutions in hydrology / water sciences, geospatial analysis, information technology, resource management, conservation, and management and business process improvement.
We focus on putting the right people in the right place to be effective. And having the right people is critical for success.
Our streamlined organization enables and empowers our talented professionals to tackle our customers' scientific and technical priorities - creatively and effectively.
Lynker offers a team-oriented work environment, and the opportunity to work in a culture of exceptionally skilled and diverse professionals who embrace sound science and creative solutions.
Lynker's benefits include the following :
- Comprehensive healthcare for the employee at no monthly cost
- Healthcare benefit covers medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision
- Personal Time Off (PTO) Policy plus paid holidays
- Highly competitive compensation plan regularly calibrated against industry and location benchmarks
- 401(k) retirement plan with company-matching
- Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) - we're all company owners!
- Flexible spending accounts
- Employee assistance program (EAP)
- Short- and long-term disability insurance
- Life and accident insurance
- Tuition assistance / Training / Workforce improvement reimbursement per year
- Spot bonuses for exceptional performance
- Annual Employee Recognition Awards with bonuses
- Employee Referral Program
- Free centralized, self-directed Learning Management System to learn at your own pace
- Personalized career growth plans for every employee
Lynker is an E-Verify employer.
Lynker is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply.
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