Survey Watch Stander / Video Annotator - Level I (Mesophotic Deep Benthic Communities Survey)

Job Description

Job Description

*US Citizenship Required

*Position is Subject to Contract Award

Location: Panama City, FL (with at-sea travel on NOAA Ships and research vessels)

Client Organization: NOAA Fisheries – SEFSC, Population & Ecosystems Monitoring Division

Overview

Support mesophotic and deep benthic reef community surveys (50–1,800 m) as a Survey Watch Stander and video annotator. Work is conducted in response to DWH oil spill restoration and involves ROV/AUV survey platforms, acoustic mapping, and ground-truthing of coral, sponge, and fish assemblages.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as survey watch stander on MDBC surveys aboard NOAA Ships and small research vessels.
• Execute at-sea mapping and ground-truthing missions per MDBC SOPs as Field Party Chief or Watch Leader.
• Perform pre- and post-survey equipment inventory and maintenance.
• Conduct biological and environmental data collection, logging, and sample processing under field conditions.
• Complete NOAA Small Boat Program incident reporting as required.
• Serve as subject matter expert identifying marine fishes from mesophotic and deep reef habitats.
• Annotate ROV-based video using C-Vision tools; perform human-in-the-loop review, QA/QC, and Oracle database ingest.
• Manage review/tracking sheets and update GitHub project management tools.
• Enter and correct data in MDBC database and metadata; utilize bathymetric inventory for the U.S. EEZ (50–1,800 m).
• Support data analyses; draft basic reports, summaries, and presentations.
• Participate in public outreach and education activities.

Required Qualifications

• MS Degree in Marine Science or related field, OR BS Degree plus 1 year of relevant experience.
• Computer literacy with word processing, database, statistical, and graphics software; ability to write college-level reports and make oral presentations.
• At-sea data collection experience; knowledge of hydrological and biological data stream software.
• Proficiency in fish, invertebrate, and protected species identification; knowledge of reef taxa from the Gulf of America.
• Expert knowledge of major structure-forming invertebrates in mesophotic and deep benthic communities of the Gulf of America.
• Knowledge of procedures when encountering endangered or threatened species.
• Must meet NOAA OMAO sea-duty medical fitness requirements; current tetanus vaccine required.