Maintaining healthy animals and exhibits is critical to the fulfillment of the Aquarium mission to instill a sense of wonder, respect, and stewardship for these amazing animals.
Essential Functions
What does this position do?
- Provides the highest possible quality of care to the animals in their care.
- Prepares food and feeds the animals. Duties require carrying heavy buckets of food, water, and fish.
- Cleans exhibit glass, rockwork, filtration, and behind-the-scenes areas.
- Observes and recognizes medical conditions. Promptly reports those conditions to the supervising Aquarist, Manager, or Asst. Curator.
- Promptly reports all non-functional life support equipment to the supervising Aquarist, Manager, or Asst. Curator.
- Maintains a clean and organized area to facilitate a professional and safe environment for work and behind the scenes tours.
- Adheres to all established safety protocols (fire, OSHA, diving, etc.) and reports unsafe conditions to the supervising Aquarist, Manager, Asst. Curator.
- Assists in record-keeping and occasional special projects as requested.
Knowledge and Skills
Prerequisites:
- Must be 18 years of age or older
- Willingness to learn and take direction
- Reliable, self-motivated, and able to work both independently and with a team
- Some schooling in Biology or related field, or equivalent experience.
- Prior experience successfully maintaining saltwater aquariums is preferred.
- Good written and oral communication skills.
- Attention to detail.
- Able to work with sharp knives, utilizing fine motor skills to cut and prepare frozen and fresh seafood items.
Working Environment
Volunteers can expect a dynamic working environment with both indoor and outdoor spaces that include uneven surfaces, changing temperatures, exposure to sunlight and weather.
- This position involves frequent travel from one part of the Aquarium to another, climbing up and down ladders, and moving through small spaces behind the scenes.
- Volunteers work independently, following protocols that create a safe environment for them and for the animals in their care.
- Exposure to injury from animals
- Food preparation with fish and shellfish
- Exposed to working with bio-hazards
- Exposure to variations in temperature, sunlight, humidity, or wetness.
- Wet, dirty, uneven surfaces and walkways.
- Working in confined spaces, ladders, and elevated platforms over exhibits of varying depth.
- Willing to work in cold, wet environments with strong fish and filtration odors.
Physical Demands
- Ability to sit, stand and walk for long periods of time.
- Ability to balance, bend, squat, climb, kneel, twist.
- Applicants must be able to navigate exhibit ladders and platforms, and be on his/her feet for extended periods of time.
- Ability to lift and carry up to 0-50lbs.
- Ability to pull and push up to 0-50lbs.
- Full functional range of motion in all major body joints from reaching, twisting, bending, simple and power gripping, fine and gross motor skills.
Mental Demands
- Flexibility and adaptability in dealing with high levels of responsibility, empathy, frustration, and patience when it comes to the care of animals with basic needs.
- Resilience and ability to prioritize sometimes competing tasks and maintain composure while working under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to maintain positive and productive relationships with colleagues and guests, even when differing perspectives present potential for conflict.
- Strong problem-solving skills to analyze issues and find effective solutions and alternatives.
- Flexibility and adaptability to handle changes in schedules or responsibilities.
- Critical thinking and decision-making abilities to handle complex situations.
- Empathy and emotional intelligence to understand and respond to the needs of colleagues or customers.
- Ability to maintain composure and handle difficult situations with professionalism.
- Ability to cope with occasional illness, injury, or loss of animals.
Commitment and Shift Availability
All Aquarist volunteers make a minimum commitment of one year of weekly service (with time off recognized for vacations, special needs, and illness). Shifts are 4 hours and typically begin at either 7:00am or 8:00am depending on the needs of the supervisor. They are once a week on a recurring day of the week.
Training
- Aquarium 101, an introduction to the Aquarium’s operations and staff expectations.
- Meetings and evaluations for ongoing training and assessment.
- Aquarist volunteers are assigned to a paid Aquarist who assists in hands-on training and serves as the volunteer’s primary supervisor and mentor.
- As volunteers become fully trained, they will be expected to be able to work independently of paid staff when necessitated.
Application
Thank you for your interest, but we are not accepting applications for this position at this time. Please check back later.
Join us in helping our fish and invertebrate animals thrive.
