Fish Hatchery Specialist 2 (In-Training) - Lakewood Hatchery - Career Seasonal - 2026-06749

State of Washington•Pierce County – Lakewood, WA

15h•Onsite

About The Position

This is an opportunity to expand your fisheries knowledge and valuable hands-on experience in hatchery operations. Join the WDFW team and perform scientific, technical, and routine maintenance duties throughout the Lakewood Hatchery complex, including Chambers Creek Hatchery to support the rearing of Kokanee, Rainbow Trout and Chinook salmon. The Fish Hatchery Specialist 2 (In-Training) series provides mentoring and career development opportunities for candidates with limited hatchery and fish culture experience. Candidates will be hired as a Fish Hatchery Specialist 1 or 2, dependent on skills and experience. Upon satisfactory completion of the 12-month in-training plan, the selected candidate will automatically be promoted to a Fish Hatchery Specialist 2.

Requirements

Valid Driver’s License.
Option 1: Three (3) years of experience performing a variety of fish culture duties in a hatchery.
Option 2: An Associate’s degree in fisheries technology, biology, or a closely allied field.
Option 3: Three (3) years of education towards a Bachelor’s degree in fisheries, biology, or a closely allied field.
Option 4: Successful completion of a fish culture program from a vocational school.
Option 1: Four (4) years of experience performing a variety of fish culture duties in a hatchery.
Option 2: One (1) year of experience as a Fish Hatchery Specialist 1 and successful completion of agency supervised training program.
Option 3: Associate’s degree in fisheries technology, biology or closely allied field and one (1) year of experience performing fish culture duties in a hatchery.
Option 4: Two (2) years of education towards a Bachelor’s degree in fisheries, biology or closely allied field and one (1) year of experience performing fish culture duties in a hatchery.
Option 5: Successful completion of a fish culture program from a vocational school and one (1) year of experience performing fish culture duties in a hatchery.
Valid Driver’s License.

Nice To Haves

Two (2) or four (4) year degree in fisheries or closely related field.

Responsibilities

Calculate and feed fish according to pond populations and weight samples.
Adjust feed size and amount fed as needed.
Monitor fish behavior and health.
Monitor egg and fish production and disinfect and enumerate eggs.
Identify, sort, and sample species for spawning and adult distribution.
Clean ponds and raceways, troughs, and incubator systems to maintain fish health.
Identify marked adults and collect tags/marks for biological sampling.
Perform fish inventories, splits, grading, marking trailer inventories, weight samples and plants.
Pick eggs loss by hand or using equipment and incubate for facility programs or shipments.
Conduct remote trapping and spawning operations, including transport of equipment and gametes.
Load truck according to safe hauling densities, utilizes proper oxygen levels and monitors fish during transport.
Scan fish for various tags using coded wire tag (CWT) wands, passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag detectors, and other tag associated equipment.
Maintain proper water flow and rearing environments.
Perform standby duties which require responding to alarms and taking appropriate action to preserve facility programs, test alarms and report failures to agency personnel.
Monitor and maintain facility support systems such as diesel generators, domestic and ozone water treatment plants, alarm panels and other support systems.
Accurately fills out and submits agency forms such as fish transfer tickets, hatchery invoice forms and other relevant forms.
Maintain purchasing card account, ledger of hatchery expenses, and completes order payment forms for vendor payments.