Posted as a courtesy only; please do not contact me about this position—Dida

We are a small 501c3 nonprofit group based in San Diego, California, called Ocean Sanctuaries. One of our main focuses is promoting and supporting ocean-related citizen science projects.

Currently, we are running two shark monitoring projects, one in partnership with National Geographic, called ‘Sharks of California,’ and the second one is a long term, baseline population dynamics study of the sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) in the San Diego area, called the Sevengill Shark ID Project.

Currently, we are looking for a Principle Investigator (PI) for our sevengill Shark ID Project. Since this is a citizen science project and not one associated with any professional academic or marine science institute, we have no specific academic requirements for our PI, other than we are looking possibly for a graduate student (or Ph.d) in Marine Science and/or Shark Biology who might be interested in donating a few hours each month to running the pattern recognition software we are using, called “Wildbook,” developed by Jason Holmberg, who developed it originally for use in identifying Whale Sharks with biologist Brad Norman. He is working closely with us as the developer.

The work would involve installing the software on his or her computer and working a few hours each month running the +/- 100 photos we have of local sevengill sharks, taken by local divers, through “Wildbook” to determine whether the same individual sharks are returning from year to year, based on the unique ‘freckling patterns’ seen in the area of the head and dorsal sides.

Since this is a long term study that has been going on since 2009, we have photographic data going back 5 years and eventually, depending on what the data shows, hope to perhaps publish our findings in an open sources scientific journal, such as PLOS. In that case, we would, of course, give full credit, to the PI for their work.

We have submitted a proposal and plan to present this project at the 2015 Citizen Science Association (CSA) Conference in February of next year in San Jose.

Please find relevant links below and thank you for taking the time to read this:

Ocean Sanctuaries Shark Monitoring Projects

Sevengill Shark ID Project

Our Methodology

Citizen Science Conference, 2015, San Jose, California

Sincerely,
Mike Bear
Citizen Science Project Coordinator
Ocean Sanctuaries.org
mbear4@gmail.com
(858) 333-2911

Posted as a courtesy only. Please do not contact me about this job vacancy—Dida

After a number of years of successfully leading Los Angeles Waterkeeper, project coordinator Brian Meux is leaving for a position with NOAA. That leaves a vacancy that needs filling ASAP as “a full time coordinator to join our team in conducting field work, administration, outreach, and public education.”

DUTIES INCLUDE:
• Leading and participating in at least two restoration dive trips per week
• Recruiting and training volunteers for participation in the Kelp Project
• Scheduling and coordinating volunteers for field days, aiming for up to 5 volunteers per day
• Research vessel piloting and operation, including navigation from Marina del Rey to the Palos Verdes Peninsula
• AAUS dive team leader, supervising and motivating divers to accomplish restoration and monitoring objectives
• This position includes full Divemaster responsibilities on field days, including diver safety, buddy system, dive logs, etc.
• Work with AAUS dive program Dive Safety Officer (DSO) to ensure safe practices and volunteers maintain current AAUS diver status
• Maintaining diver files and guiding volunteers through completion of AAUS requirements

The full job description and contact information is
here.

Good luck.

As an aside, I met Brian during the first training for California Reef Checkers. He wrote an article for this site that can be read here.

Posted as a courtesy only. Please do not contact me about this position–Dida

Reef Check is searching for a Central Coast Regional Manager for Reef Check’s California program. After working for 8 years, growing the program and building up the volunteer community in the central coast, our long-term Regional Manager, Megan Wehrenberg, is leaving Reef Check in the fall to sail around the world. Reef Check is looking for someone to join the team and to continue her great work and make their own contributions.

The ideal candidate will have detailed knowledge of the coastal rocky reef ecosystem in California, good taxonomic skills, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with recreational divers and academic researchers. We are looking for someone with experience as a dive leader – certification as Instructor and experience in the Reef Check monitoring protocol will be an advantage. We require someone who is an outstanding leader and able to inspire volunteers and at the same time has the required background in marine ecology. The candidate must be organized, capable of working independently and have excellent oral and written communication skills.

See the job announcement here.