The Seahorse Trust. Seahorse Tagging Officer.

The Seahorse Trust. Seahorse Tagging Officer.


Since 1994 we have been running the British Seahorse Survey and this has given us great insights into Seahorses around the British Isles, which led in 2008 to us getting them fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act

Seahorses are unique creatures with an enigmatic almost secretive lifestyle which gives problems in trying to understand about their ecology in the field and it is unusual to find a site with large numbers of Seahorse resident in it.

We have been working on such a unique site in Dorset, England for a couple of years now which has given us a background to the site and we are just about to start a tagging project to allow us to understand more about the site and the individual Seahorses and others species on and around it.

We are just about to be granted some funds to support our Seahorse Tagging project at Studland in Dorset. The project is innovative and being done under Natural England License and we require a Tagging Officer for a years contract [this may be extended subject to the officer fund raising for the position]

The Seahorse Tagging Project Officer will be self motivated and unsupervised and will individually tag. GPS mark, photograph and do the morphometric measurements for the Seahorses on the site. This data will be collated by the officer to give a greater understanding of this site and will be fed into the British Seahorse Survey and periodic reports on the Seahorses and the site.

The Officer will also be expected to train and work with dive volunteers that will assist in the tagging project.

A major part of the work of the Officer is in working with the local community and visitors to the area and so will be expected to take part in public talks and community days. They will also be expected to work directly with other organisations to push the project forward and attend and do a presentation to the trustees of the trust periodically.

Skills needed.

Essential:

Seahorse experience of behaviour and ecology in captivity and in the field

Fund raising experience

Working with volunteers and knowledge of the volunteer sector

Be able to do public speaking to small and large groups.

Car license, own vehicle.

Minimum Dive Master or equivalent.

Experienced in underwater surveying.

Must be able to write in depth reports and media articles

Computer literate.

Must be self motivated.

Desirable requirements
Knowledge of national standards for the voluntary sector

Knowledge of committee structures /systems

Knowledge of local voluntary networks.

Ability to build strong links with voluntary organisations.

Please note this position is also being advertised internally.

For full job details please contact:

Neil Garrick-Maidment
Executive Director.
The Seahorse Trust.
neil.seahorses@tesco.net

For background information on The Seahorse Trust and the British Seahorse Survey please visit our websites.

www.theseahorsetrust.co.ukwww.britishseahorsesurvey.org

Closing date: Friday 22nd May 2009


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