Economist

Ocean Associates Inc. (OAI) is seeking an economist to provide support to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Social Sciences Branch. OAI is a Virginia corporation established in 2003 that provides consulting and technical services to the U.S. government, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and the private sector. We specialize in scientific program and project management, strategic planning, professional and technical services, and stakeholder engagement, supporting government contracts.

The Northeast Climate Integrated Modeling (NCLIM) Initiative is a multi-disciplinary project that aims to better understand the impacts of climate variability and climate change on the marine environment, stocks of fish, and the communities and economies that depend on them. Team members include oceanographers, fisheries scientists, and economists at NOAA and in academia.

Changes in environmental conditions, management, and economic conditions drive changes in human behavior. In close partnership with academic researchers, staff at NOAA Fisheries have estimated a microeconometric model of fishing behavior for the groundfish fleet. The results of this model have been integrated into software that can perform Management Strategy Evaluation for various groundfish stocks in the northeast Large Marine Ecosystem. We aim to use this coupled economic model to address questions like:

• How will fishing fleets respond to a changing climate and changing species availability in terms of potential adaptation strategies, including targeting, timing, and diversification strategies?
• Which communities will benefit and which communities will suffer as the distribution of fish stocks changes?

Primary Tasks:

There are two primary tasks. First, integrate existing economic models of fishing into coupled bio-economic models. Second, develop and econometrically parameterize complementary sub-models to improve the realism of those coupled bio-economic models. The following sub-tasks are likely:

• Review and synthesize the existing related literature to determine appropriate methods.
• Develop and answer research questions relevant to the NOAA stewardship mission that can be addressed using existing coupled bioeconomic model, data, and software.
• Develop and answer research questions relevant to the NOAA stewardship mission that can be integrated into existing coupled bioeconomic models by applying econometric tools to existing data.
• Support the NCLIM modeling effort by improving software and participating collaboratively in team meetings.
• Attend NEFMC council meetings to understand management needs as necessary.
• Integrate into the scientific community by attending Social Science Branch meetings and other organizational meetings as necessary.
• Formally share the results of the research through technical and scientific writing and present research findings at scientific meetings.

Deliverables:

• Functional extensions of the existing model of fishing coded in R with technical documentation that includes: code, annotation, and metadata posted to the team’s github project repository.
• Reproducible and annotated code for estimated econometric models.
• Reports such as scholarly articles suitable for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or technical memoranda.

Required Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience working collaboratively on multidisciplinary teams to develop joint products.
• Demonstrated experience with both formulating research questions and executing the quantitative research necessary to answer those questions.
• A Ph.D. in economics, applied economics, applied social science, OR a Ph.D. in fisheries science, computer science, data science, or related field supplemented by economics training, OR Masters degree in one of the above fields plus relevant work experience. Ph.D. candidates with an anticipated completion date before December 31, 2024 are encouraged to apply.
• Proficiency in R.
• Experience with Git or other version control software.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Unix experience.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including a record of publishing scientific products and presentations to diverse groups of scientific and non-scientific audiences.
• Familiarity with fisheries or natural resource management.

Location:

Fully remote or at the NEFSC facilities in either Woods Hole MA or Narragansett RI.

Travel:

Occasional domestic travel may be required for meetings.

Salary:

This is a full time position with benefits. Salary between $30 and $36 per hour depending on experience.