The intern will assist the NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resource’s National Sea Turtle Program with two ongoing projects focused on the conservation and recovery of sea turtles.
All sea turtles found in U.S. waters are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as either threatened or endangered. Under the ESA, to list a species as a threatened or endangered species, we must conduct a review of its status, including any threats facing the species. Once a species is listed, we are required to review its status every five years to determine whether the classification is still accurate. We are currently conducting these reviews for several sea turtle species. The intern will work with our team to review the scientific literature and data associated with our next sea turtle 5-year review. They will synthesize and interpret the literature and data to assist our team with making a recommendation for whether the current listing remains accurate. The intern will assist with writing the results of a portion of this review in a 5 year review report. You can view several examples of sea turtle 5-year reviews on our NOAA Fisheries website.
Bycatch, or the unintended catch of non-target species is a common challenge in both federal and state-managed fisheries. Bycatch in commercial and recreational fisheries is a major threat to the recovery and conservation of sea turtle populations globally. To reduce this threat, NOAA Fisheries evaluates, researches, and addresses bycatch of sea turtles through:
- developing bycatch estimates;
- studying sea turtle ecology and fishery interactions;
- regulating certain fisheries to reduce sea turtle bycatch;
- discussing mitigation options with the fishing industry and others; and
- researching gear and operational measures to reduce the severity of interactions that do occur.
The intern will help our team collect, analyze, and collate information related to sea turtle bycatch to better understand current sea turtle interactions with fisheries (bycatch rates of sea turtles, rates of monitoring of fisheries that interact with sea turtles, levels of post-interaction mortality, etc.), tools to minimize sea turtle bycatch (bycatch reduction methods and ongoing research), and communication tools to share effective minimization methods and enhance public outreach.
The selected intern will meet regularly with two mentors and engage with staff in the Office of Protected Resources. They will have the opportunity to learn about sea turtle ecology and conservation, fisheries management and bycatch, the laws and regulations that apply to protected species (Endangered Species Act, etc.), and careers in the federal government. The timeline for this internship is flexible, but ideally, the intern would be able to devote ~2-3 months to the project, dependent on available hours per week.