[Classifieds] Job Advertisement

[MBL Classifieds]

Project Assistant and Offshore Wind Liaison



Position Description

Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc. (CFF) is a small non-profit organization located in East Falmouth, MA that conducts and supports scientific research and educational activities that promote sustainable fisheries operations, local small-scale agriculture and aquaculture, and renewable energy sources. CFF is at the forefront of developing state-of-the-art optical survey methods for studying marine habitats. We are seeking a motivated research project assistant to work on a multiyear project to evaluate the impacts of offshore wind development on commercial fish species and benthic habitats and communities. This individual will work closely with the project lead principal investigator to manage all aspects of the project. They will also work with all project principal investigators on all phases of the research as needed, including technology development to prepare for offshore research cruises and participating in data analysis. Additional work responsibilities will include acting as CFF’s liaison with wind companies and keeping CFF scientists up to date with the rapidly changing status of offshore wind development. This position will be full time, and salary will be commensurate with experience.



Primary Project

CFF was awarded a grant from the Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to evaluate the impacts of offshore wind development on commercial fish species and benthic habitats and communities using a suite of state-of-the-art, non-lethal survey tools. During this project, we will be conducting surveys using our towed off-bottom optical survey vehicle HabCam v3, an open cod-end video trawl, and anchored and ropeless stationary camera systems. In addition to conducting offshore surveys using multiple gear types, we will be developing automated detection models for fish and marine invertebrate species using the survey imagery to train deep learning models.



Primary Responsibilities

•         Assist with managing all aspects of the offshore wind survey project

•         Maintain regular contact with project stakeholders and attend project meetings

•         Participate in project research trips (32 days-at-sea per year)

•         Maintain project research inventory and prepare supplies and equipment for research trips

•         Assist with project database development and data analysis

•         Assist with project server planning and installation

•         Annotate and train automated detection models from imagery collected during HabCam and stationary camera surveys

•         Copyedit project reports and manuscripts



Additional Responsibilities

•         Keep up with offshore wind information resources and research by attending offshore wind meetings in person and virtually

•         Review government and private monitoring and research plans for wind energy areas (WEAs)

•         Identify sampling strategies and sampling tools being used in different WEAs

•         Identify data products from and data users for WEA fisheries and geophysical surveys

•         Update CFF staff about emerging issues in offshore wind at weekly team meetings



Qualifications

•         Bachelor’s or master’s degree in an appropriate discipline (e.g., marine science, environmental science, oceanography, or fisheries management)

•         Highly organized and detail-oriented

•         Experience working at sea

•         Ability to manage a heavy workload and participate in four- to eight-day research trips as needed

•         Excellent writing, communication, and interpersonal skills

•         Must be able to lift 50 lbs, bend, stretch, and stand for extended periods of time



Preferred Qualifications

•         Interest in renewable energy and offshore wind development

•         Experience handling offshore survey or fishing gear

•         Interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence

•         Working knowledge of R, ArcGIS, and Microsoft Access



Benefits

CFF offers a competitive benefits package including company-sponsored health and dental insurance, 401k retirement opportunity, and paid vacation, sick, and holiday time.



Application

Please submit cover letter and CV to contact at cfarm.org<mailto:contact at cfarm.org>
The proposed start date for this position is August 5, 2025



--
Justin Potter
Project Coordinator
Coonamessett Farm Foundation
Mailing: 277 Hatchville Road East Falmouth, MA 02536
Office Location: 233 Hatchville Road East Falmouth, MA 02536
508-356-3601
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.mbl.edu/pipermail/classifieds/attachments/20240529/6ffc738e/attachment.html