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Location: Athens, Ohio | My son Jon is graduating high school this summer and has enrolled in a two year college in their business school. Recently, the college announced a new four year program in fisherie and wildlife biology. I'm encouraging Jon to consider it, since he's been an avid fisherman since the age of 2 and seems to have a good instinct and great enjoyment for the sport.
What I'm wondering is what the present and near-future prospects are for jobs in this field? I know many states are facing budget cutbacks, layoffs, and not filling attrited positions. Are there a fair number of private sector jobs out there, also? Any feedback would be welcome, thanks! m | |
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Posts: 32935
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | In the midwest, many of the States are suffering from severe budget shortages, and DNR personnel numbers are being cut back. I know of a couple very qualified Fisheries biloogists who work in non related fields.
As with everything, though, this too shall pass. | |
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| Mikie, there is boom in private fish hacheries right now. there are many many more farms growing fish than there use to be. They all need managers. and not just for fish to be stocked, but farms for fish consumption too.
Universities, private and public also keep hiring people w/ this type degree.
and lastly...CONGRADULATIONS on your son graduting high school and even more impressive..GOOD JOB getting him in college. that speaks alot of your and the mrs. ya'll did a great job w/ Jon.
tomcat
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Posts: 1764
Location: Ogden, Ut | mikie,
They're great jobs if you can get them. The toughest part now seems to be getting well qualified people to even begin the course of study beacuse the light at the end of the tunnel seems so dim. It's really not that bad. High caliber people seem to always have work available, the catch is, it's rarely local. Many of the 'out of work' biologists that I know of just can't afford to chase a 35K/year job when their spouse is making almost twice that locally. So they basically just drift out of the field or do some sporradic consulting work. Another thing is that one may not be able to choose the agency they work for - if you want to manage sportfish for a certain district for WDNR, that will be a tough order to tag. But if you don't mind working in another place, or for a different agency for a while, it's completely do-able.
And as tomcat already said - congrats on getting him this far and instilling a thirst for knowlegde in Jon. A good education is probably one of the few things in this day in age that is still not over-rated!
K. | |
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| I seccond what Sorensen said about the pay rates. My brother got his degree in fisheries biology and is now a fireman. There are just too many people in that field so the pay rates are low. I wish him luck either way though.
Ty | |
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Posts: 158
Location: Eagan, MN | I tried to talk my brother out of majoring in biology. Eventually he did an internship w/ the MN-DNR and found out how bad the job prospects were. He ended up double majoring in biology and computer science. Guess which degree he's using and which field he is in? Not biology. Pretty sad. I really respect those who manage our wildlife and environment, hopefully things turn around for them. I for one would gladly pay a few hundred dollars for a fishing license if the money was invested in the resource and the people who take care of it. | |
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| Ha Ha well I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks the job prospects suck. I graduated from the University of Illinois last May with a degree in Fish and Wildlife Biology, then went down to Florida for a 7 month internship, and came back home to find that especially here in Illinois good old BLOWgoyavich (however you spell his name) had been cutting the state jobs. Public sector work is tight and the pay is pretty bad. Most likely Ill be trying to enter the private sector dealing with environmental restoration. So if anyone happens to be affiliated with this field or no someone who is send an email my way  .
Nate | |
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Posts: 149
| I am very familiar with that situation. I have B.S. degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (the largest and arguably best undergrad Natural Resources program in the entire country). More to the point of this thread, I don't work in the N.R. field today for the reasons stated (very bad job outlook, severely substandard pay even for those who get in the field, public completely hates you (or more specifically the organization you work for) just to mention a few. I have a very close friend and former college roommate who majored (and has a B.S. degree in) Fisheries Management. Long story short, he was VERY dedicated to his field and getting a job in it. Following college he bounced from temp job to temp job in the fisheries field in various states with very low pay (most around or under $10 per hour) and zero benefits for well over a decade, all the while applying for the very few permanent positions that became open literally anywhere in the country. After a dozen years of the temp work in several different states and not knowing where he would be working much less living six months from any given moment even with all that experience and a 4 year degree, he finally landed an entry level Fisheries Tech position (about $25,000 per year) with a state DNR. Keep in mind, he was very lucky to get this $25,000 job a full 12 years after gratuating from a premier university for that field of study with a 4 year degree in the field. He still holds said position today because promotions in state DNR's are a thing of the past as when someone retires or moves on they simply don't fill the open position instead piling more work on those few employees who remain in that department or merging them with a different region.
Congratulations in getting your son into college, but if he wants even the most remote chance at a permanent position in the Natural Resources field he will need a Masters degree at the very least and a ton of luck. Even with that he most likely won't end up in the geographic area he wants, but will have to take anything that is open anywhere. Sad but true.
Edited by esoxcpr 3/30/2005 7:49 PM
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Question for Fisheries Biologists