Fish Biologist

This is a Direct Hire Public Notice. Please read this Public Notice in its entirety prior to submitting your application for consideration.

This position is located within the Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) with 1 vacancy located in Miami, Florida; Silver Spring, Maryland; Woods Hole, Massachusetts; Beaufort, North Carolina.

This is a TERM appointment or NTE date of 09/30/2026 (3 years total term)

Qualifications:

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy.

Basic Requirements/Selective Placement Factor: This position requires applicants to meet the Basic Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of specialized experience OR substitution of education for experience OR combination in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with an application package. You MUST meet one of the following basic education requirements:

To qualify for 0482 series
Degree: major in biological science that included:

• At least 6 semester hours in aquatic subjects such as limnology, ichthyology, fishery biology, aquatic botany, aquatic fauna, oceanography, fish culture, or related courses in the field of fishery biology; and
• At least 12 semester hours in the animal sciences in such subjects as general zoology, vertebrate zoology, comparative anatomy, physiology, entomology, parasitology, ecology, cellular biology, genetics, or research in these fields. (Excess course work in aquatic subjects may be used to meet this requirement when appropriate.)

OR

• Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in biological science (i.e., at least 30 semester hours), of which a minimum of 6 semester hours were in aquatic subjects and 12 semester hours were in the animal sciences, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

AND

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations e.g., professional; philanthropic, religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies; knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

To qualify at the ZP-3 or GS-11 level:
SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower pay band
ZP-2 or GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following:

• Assisting in the development of products for use in living marine resource management;
• Contributing to the development of summary documents and presentation materials; and
• Assisting in the development of ecosystem approaches.

OR

Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree OR LL.M., if related.

OR

Combination of education and experience as described above. The total percentage of the combined education and experience must equal at least
100% to qualify.

Responsibilities:

As a Fish Biologist you will perform the following:

• Apply fishery science, oceanography, marine biology, and climate knowledge to plan and support research programs to determine impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems to develop products for use in living marine resource management.
• Coordinate on issues related to climate impacts on marine ecosystems and facilitate development of ecosystem approaches for fisheries management and to address responses of marine ecosystems to climate forcing.
• Develop information to report or present to leadership or external groups and formulate communications for the Climate Ecosystem and Fisheries Initiative (CEFI) while coordinating planning, execution and reporting for the program to assure it falls within regulations and guidelines.

Salary : $69,107 - $122,459