The Sustainable Fisheries Manager will develop, manage and advance sustainable fisheries and conservation projects, plans and methods for large-scale geographic areas in the Gulf of Mexico whole system. The Manager will implement our fisheries strategy by demonstrating the value of adaptive, cooperative, and science-based comprehensive management for marine fisheries. This model leverages experimentation and contributions from the private and public sectors to drive innovation and increase science and management capacity. The Manager will join a team that partners with fishing communities, agencies, scientists, and other stakeholders to implement this strategy across coastal and offshore fisheries in Texas, the Gulf of Mexico and North America, by transferring capacity and sharing relevant lessons, tools, and approaches. Location is flexible within Texas, with Houston being the preferred.
The Sustainable Fisheries Manager provides technical leadership and program support to the Marine Science and Fisheries Program in the Freshwater and Marine Department of the Texas Chapter. Reporting to the Program Director, the Fisheries Manager provides leadership and support of conservation strategies to improve sustainability of Gulf of Mexico’s fisheries, and their relationship to other Texas regional conservation, management, and policy measures. The Manager helps establish the Conservancy as a major conservation partner within the area of responsibility, lead and participate in matrixed teams, and work within and across chapter departments and across Conservancy fisheries-related programs to build strategic, scientific, and technical capacity. To achieve that, the Manager develops and implements creative solutions to reduce the lack of timely and accurate fishery management information, and the chronic lack of collaboration between fishing communities and management agencies. The Manager makes available the best science-based management frameworks, information, and collaborative tools to resource managers and fishing communities to promote co-responsibility in fisheries management. To do that, develops key partnerships with public & private organizations and academic institutions to resolve technical issues in addressing each of these barriers for sustainability. The Manager also engages local community support for fisheries-related conservation efforts, and works in partnership with government agencies and resource users to identify and implement innovative solutions to advance sustainable fisheries.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
- Helps establish the Conservancy as a trusted conservation partner within the area of sustainable marine fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico region.
- Works with internal and external teams to develop and implement conservation projects and strategies for select Texas state and federal fisheries, integrating the chapter’s fisheries work with the Conservancy’s whole systems, division, and North America sustainable fisheries priorities.
- Builds productive relationships and cooperative partnerships with diverse internal and external stakeholders to accomplish program goals, including commercial and recreational fishing industry, resource managers and scientists.
- Efficiently and effectively participates in cross-functional multidisciplinary teams.
- Assists in developing and implementing communication strategies to widely communicate solutions and best practices.
- Assists in developing and implementing innovative science-based methods, analyses, tools and frameworks to address fishery sustainability and management challenges, contributing strategic, scientific, and technical capacity in the field.
- Gain cooperation from outside parties to accomplish program goals.
- Engages community on local fisheries conservation efforts.
- Financial responsibility may include working within/managing a budget to complete projects, negotiating and contracting with vendors, assisting with budget development, and meeting fundraising targets.
- Ensures program compliance with internal policies and external requirements.
- Self-motivated professional who under minimal supervision, makes independent decisions based on analysis, experience and context.
- 3 to 5 years’ experience in marine conservation, fisheries ecology, management and policy, or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience participating in community-based projects and working directly with a fishery industry or a community.
- Experience developing partnerships with community, government, scientists and other fishery stakeholders.
- Experience managing complex or multiple projects, including staffing, workloads and finances under deadlines.
- Experience with current trends, policies and practices in marine fisheries in Texas, Gulf of Mexico, and the United States.
- Experience communicating with the public and/or media both in writing and verbally.
- Experience in data gathering, synthesis and reporting.
- Experience using data applications such as GIS (i.e., geographic information systems), and/or other analytical tools (e.g., statistical analysis).
- Experience in marine fisheries-related fieldwork.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- More than 5 years’ experience in marine conservation, fisheries ecology, management and policy, or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience leading community-based projects and working directly with a fishery industry or a community.
- Demonstrated experience influencing, developing and implementing marine fisheries conservation policy and plans.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of ecosystem-based fisheries management.
- Experience negotiating agreements.
- Demonstrated experience in grant writing.
- Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience is appreciated.
- Ability to explain conservation practices to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Supervisory experience.
- Excellent communication skills via written, spoken and graphical means in English and other relevant languages (e.g., Spanish).
The Nature Conservancy offers competitive compensation, 401k or savings-plan matching for eligible employees, excellent benefits, flexible work policies and a collaborative work environment. We also provide professional development opportunities and promote from within. As a result, you will find a culture that supports and inspires conservation achievement and personal development, both within the workplace and beyond.