Please post the following on marmam: We are seeking four or five highly skilled research assistants for the 2006 field season to help on the Male Dolphin Alliance Project in Shark Bay, Western Australia. The study will run from July-November. We are examining the relationship between alliance size, stability, habitat, relatedness and reproductive success. Shark Bay is a marine biologist's paradise and the dolphin behavior you will witness is unsurpassed. Because training time will be limited and we (Connor and Krutzen) will not be on site for the entire study, we need people who are already skilled at handling small motor boats and dolphin photo-identification. Skill at sailing larger (36') catamarans would be a real plus. You will work in teams on two boats, one concentrating on behavior and the other on darting and behavior. Behavioral data will be collected during surveys and focal alliance follows, including 20- minute digital video samples. The type of person that works well on our project is hard-working, team oriented, plays well with others and maintains a positive attitude when things aren't going well. People who like to 'sleep in' or work on a schedule may not adapt well to our program. The latter is important because, perhaps more than many field sites, work in Shark Bay is highly weather dependent. This means we can alternate between long periods stuck on shore and consecutive long-days offshore which are very intense and tiring. The fickle nature of the wind means we can rarely predict what time of day we will be going offshore and are often 'on standby'. You should be comfortable with standing in a boat for 11 hours non-stop while looking for and recording data on dolphins. You should be comfortable with and experienced at looking though binoculars for long periods. You will be expected to work endless hours identifying dolphins and entering data into a computer database. You must be available from July-November 2006, but exact dates within that period are still uncertain. We will also send you a CD with over 100 male fins and expect to learn to distinguish them before the study. You have to get to Shark Bay on your own, but food and living space is provided onsite. If you are interested and have the required experience and skills, please provide a short CV with references and a letter explaining your interest in the project and career goals to both Richard at rconnor@umassd.edu and Michael at <mailto:michael.kruetzen@aim.unizh.ch>michael.kruetzen@aim.unizh.ch by 31 Jan 06. We will make decisions by the end of February. Please include names and email addresses for references; CVs that state 'references available on request' will not be considered. Please specify whether you actually took pictures on a photo-ID study (but that is not a requirement; we have had wonderful assistants with no prior boat or photo-ID experience). Please do not be put off if you applied but were not considered in recent years. Each year we have more good applicants than we can take on the project. Richard will be at the San Diego Conference and will be happy to speak with you. Visit <http://monkeymiadolphins.org/>http://monkeymiadolphins.org for more information on dolphin research in Shark Bay, the environs and how to get there.