Please help spread the word about two forthcoming job opportunities in the NMFS Alaska Region Protected Resources Division. The division is responsible for management of a variety of protected species including whales, fur seals, ice seals, harbor seals, and Steller sea lions. We will be advertising for two ZP 401 band III (GS 11/12 equivalent) Marine Mammal Specialist vacancies via one announcement. The positions may be filled in either Anchorage or Juneau and will be advertised for both status and non-status applicants. (Status applicants must be current or former federal civilian employees who hold or held non-temporary appointments in the competitive service. Non-status applicants may be any US citizen.) The people hired for these two positions will work in a team environment to conduct analyses and implement conservation actions to promote the management and recovery of protected species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The duties for the two jobs will be similar, including tasks such as such as ESA section 7 consultations to evaluate and minimize the effects of federal agency actions on listed marine mammals, and working with stakeholders to avoid or minimize harassment of marine mammals and promote the recovery of listed species. We're looking for people with excellent project management, analytical, writing, and verbal communication skills, and hopefully having prior experience with the MMPA and ESA. The vacancy announcement will be issued soon. We are allowed to have only a brief application period (probably 7-14 days); hence this early notification. The announcement will be posted at www.usajobs.gov. If you're interested in one of these positions, please get your resume and transcripts ready to submit when the announcement is posted. I will send another email once I know the dates of the application periods. Anyone who has questions about the jobs should feel free to contact me at 907-586-7638 or jon.kurland@noaa.gov. Please forward this email to others who may be interested. Thanks! Jon Kurland Assistant Regional Administrator for Protected Resources NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Region