Hi, I’m an adventurous biologist

It has been almost four weeks since I was fired from my job at the homeless shelter. A lot has happened since then: shock, depression, a couple of trips to places that were supposed to make me feel better. However, the only thing that really cheered me up is my newest job offer to be a Groundfish Observer on commercial fishing vessels in Alaska!

The work is contract-based, and each biologist signs a four-month contract for their initial assignment.

From the website: While onboard vessels observers identify crab, scallop, fish species, collect and record data on sex, lengths, monitor regulatory compliance, document location and amount of each species caught.  This information is used by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to manage the commercial fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.

..and as for the working conditions:

The boats range in size from 60-foot longliners to 600-foot processing factories with trips lasting 1 to 45 days at sea.  Biologists often work out on an open deck and may spend hours at a time in cold or wet weather.  Observers must be flexible and resourceful in establishing a ‘sampling station’ and sampling methods.  Sampling and paperwork require observers to work long and odd hours, seven days a week.  Observers determine their own workday depending on the vessel’s fishing schedule and NMFS sampling protocols.  They often work 5 to 15 hours a day and rarely sleep uninterrupted for eight hours.

OR

as seen through my rose-colored spectacles: Three weeks of training in Seattle with other hip young biologists followed up by four months trawling around the Bering Sea in the land of the midnight sun! Oh yes – training and trawling! Just think of it: active volcanoes, the open sea, lots of dead fish, and me!

Exciting, no?!?