Statistician – Research Spatial Analyst

Description:

The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) has an immediate opening for a Research Spatial Analyst  to support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries). NOAA Fisheries is responsible for the science needed to manage the Nation’s fisheries, other living marine resources, and their habitats.

NOAA Fisheries and partners want to identify and quantify impacts to commercial fisheries and coastal communities across the US West Coast that may arise from interactions with new ocean-use sectors such as offshore wind energy (OWE). Commercial fisheries have historically operated across much of the West Coast and areas identified for OWE development will overlap with some fisheries and, most likely, operationally exclude them from some traditional fishing grounds. In addition to these area-specific exclusions, climate change is predicted to alter the spatial distribution of targeted species in the future, which may alter our perception of the impacts to fisheries related to OWE. Quantifying the level of these impacts and tradeoffs across sectors will help managers and stakeholders develop and recommend appropriately-scaled measures to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts to the commercial fishing industry now and into the future.

Impacts of OWE and climate change on individual fishers, fishing sectors, port-level fleets and broader coastal communities will greatly depend on the behavioral responses of individual vessels to these drivers. Discrete-choice or location-choice modeling has been a preferred tool to understand how fishing behavior changes under different management actions or environmental conditions. NOAA Fisheries and partners have developed The Spatial Economics Toolbox for Fisheries (FishSET) to improve analyses of how fisheries will be impacted by factors such as marine closures, OWE siting, a changing environment, management actions, or fish and fuel prices. FishSET provides a sophisticated framework of code and fishery behavior and economic models that can be integrated with diverse ecosystem models to investigate how vessels, fisheries and communities will respond to interacting drivers.

The Research Spatial Analyst position provides an opportunity to lead and develop analyses that will significantly improve our understanding of how fishers are likely to respond to being displaced from OWE areas and improve science advice to marine resource managers. This project incorporates a wide range of topics and technical areas. A successful candidate will demonstrate both proficiency in one or more technical skills and the ability to collaborate with partners from outside of their own discipline(s).

Responsibilities of the Position:

The Research Spatial Analyst will work collaboratively with economists, ecologists, stock assessment scientists, resource managers, programmers, and data managers to develop analyses that investigate how fisher and fishery behavior responds to OWE and climate change impacts and the resulting economic impacts across the US West Coast. This likely includes the employment of location- or discrete-choice models and the integration of ecological and stock assessment model outputs.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Lead analyses that quantify economic impacts of fishery displacement from OWE areas in a changing climate by:
  • Developing a set of research questions that can be addressed, or implemented, within the FishSET package
  • Selecting specific fisheries, ports and coastal communities to focus detailed analyses.
  • Selecting a set of economic metrics most relevant to understanding the scope of impacts.
  • Developing scenarios for analyses that compare/contrast impacts with and without climate change.
  • Including the development of R code that integrates relevant proxies of future expected catch into code base (e.g., species distribution model outputs).
  • Review, advise and develop necessary R code and functions within the FishSET package in coordination with Programming Lead.
  • Communicating results clearly to social and natural scientists, resource managers and stakeholders
  • Produce manuscript(s) of results for scientific peer review.
• Provide input and interim data products or written reports to resource managers and NOAA’s Offshore Wind Energy Coordination team that informs comment letters, consultations and NEPA reviews.

Knowledge Required by the Position:

• Experience with collaboration, building teams, and creating an open and honest environment.
• Experience independently managing projects including balancing priorities and integrating multiple perspectives.
• Programming proficiency in R and R Shiny.
• Ability to both work independently, with minimal oversight, and in groups.
• Experience with Git or other version control systems.
• Experience with conflict management (ability to negotiate and resolve conflict), time management, and risk management.
• Experience setting up and leading project status meetings.
• Experience articulating clear and concise functional requirements.
• Experience preparing and presenting both written and oral briefings, reports, scientific manuscripts, project needs, and concerns.
• Ability to effectively communicate across science disciplines (e.g., economics to ecology to stock assessments) and data management teams.

Desired skills:

• Statistical, economic, biological or ecosystem modeling experience
• Data management and code versioning experience
• Experience with project management principles
• Fisheries science and/or natural resource economics experience and interests are valuable but not essential.
• Programming expertise in other relevant languages (e.g. Python, Matlab).
• Interest in a career in public service.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

A range of experiences and education may be presented. Candidates must present one year of Specialized Experience[1] AND a M.S. degree OR a Ph.D. in economics, statistics, computer science, fisheries, data science, or any other field that provides the same knowledge. An equivalent combination of experience and education is also qualifying. An equivalent combination of experience and education is also qualifying.

Travel Requirements: Very occasional travel may be required for meetings or presentations at regional/national/international scientific conferences.

Start Date is flexible.

Specialized Experience is an experience that equips the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position being filled. To be creditable, Specialized Experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled.