Queen Conch Aquaculture Expert

Posted 3 weeks ago

Overview

The Curacao Marine Research Centre (CMRC), consisting of a consortium of three local companies, being the Curacao Sea Aquarium, Substation Curacao and RV Chapman Shipping recently received a grant from the European Union’s RESEMBID program. With the grant the Queen Conch Hatchery hopes to reach its goal to stop the dwindling Queen Conch population on Curacao by releasing cultured juvenile Queen Conch and egg masses to strengthen the local, natural population; to improve fisheries regulations and enforcement; and to provide juveniles for potential local or regional, commercial aquaculture companies or other regional population enhancement programs.

For the duration of the project (19 months, now 15 months left), the Queen Conch hatchery is looking for an experienced Queen Conch Aquaculture Specialist to advice the project team (which includes marine biologists) on infrastructure, procedures, and protocols of operation to improve the ongoing queen conch hatchery in such a way the hatchery objective as defined in the project can be reached: grow 10,000 1-year juveniles per year.

The goal of this specialist is to bring knowledge and experience to complement into the methodologies applied in the functioning of the systems to be able to increase the productivity of the hatchery and therefore reach the natural population recovery goals defined in this project.

The expert will visit the hatchery 2 times for a 4-day visit. The first visit will be planned in June/July 2023, the second visit in 2024.  The expert will give on-line advice up to a maximum of 64 hours.

The Queen Conch aquaculture specialist will advise the project team on:

  • Improve daily operation protocols and techniques for the queen conch hatchery curacao
  • Optimization of working procedures related to diets, water quality, hygiene, and organization
  • Technical and infrastructural advice for the facility

Requirements:

  • Master’s degree in marine biology or related study, preferably a PhD in this field
  • Minimum of 10 years research experience in the field of Queen Conch Aquaculture
  • Good written communication skills in English
  • Software knowledge for data analysis.  

Apply Online

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