Field Recovery Specialist
First on the scene of a stranding, ghost net, or spill — recovering animals, evidence, and people from hostile water.
Role Summary
The Field Recovery Specialist is first on the scene of a stranding, a ghost net, or a spill — recovering animals, evidence, and, when it comes to it, people from hostile water and stabilising them for transit to care or to the registry. Deploying from the RV Tidewright and the FPV Sea Wolf, the Specialist dives entanglements, leads debris and ghost-net removal, and preserves recovered material to the forensic chain-of-custody standard that Marine Forensics will build a case on. The role is accountable for life — animal and human — and for the integrity of what it brings back, often in cold, contaminated, low-visibility water with the clock against it. Where interdiction ends, recovery begins; the Specialist is the one who carries the living and the evidence home.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead recovery of entangled, injured, or stranded animals from the field, prioritising welfare and rapid stabilisation.
- Stabilise and transport recovered animals to holding or care facilities in coordination with Husbandry.
- Recover and preserve evidence to forensic chain-of-custody standard, handing it cleanly to Marine Forensics.
- Conduct ghost-net and debris removal under dive and surface protocols, including in contaminated and confined water.
- Coordinate medical evacuation and crew safety on-scene, holding the abort authority for diver and team safety.
- Maintain dive, rescue, and recovery kit to mission-ready standard and lead pre-dive checks before every operation.
Required Qualifications
- Advanced dive certification and confined/contaminated-water training.
- Wildlife-rescue or marine-mammal-stranding response experience.
- First-responder and field-medical certification.
- Physical resilience for sustained cold-water operations.
Preferred Qualifications
- Public-safety, rescue, or commercial-dive background.
- Ghost-net and large-debris removal experience.
- Familiarity with forensic recovery and chain-of-custody handling.
- Calm decision-making and team leadership in chaotic recovery scenes.
Certifications
Curricula are delivered through the Training Academy; currency is tracked on the HR training matrix.
| Certification | Status at Hire | Renewal |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced / Contaminated-Water Diver | Required | Annual |
| Survival at Sea — Advanced | Required ≤ 60 d | Annual |
| Field Medical / First Responder | Required | 24 months |
| Chain-of-Custody Field Handling | Preferred | Annual |
Physical & Hazard Requirements
- Dive cold, contaminated, and entangling water under time pressure.
- Pass annual dive medical and immersion-survival qualification.
- Handle large, distressed animals during recovery and stabilisation.
- Sustain physical exertion in heavy seas and prolonged exposure.
Compensation Band
Career Path
The Field Recovery Specialist (O-3) advances to Fleet Operations Lead (O-5) or laterals to Interdiction Pilot for the intervention track. Specialists with strong animal-handling instincts cross-train toward Husbandry and the Restoration & Rewilding Lead pipelines.
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