Trust Manager/Senior Biologist

Post: Trust Manager/Senior biologist
Salary: £30-35,000
Contract: Permanent, full-time
Location: Torlundy, Fort William
Reporting to: Appointed Directors
Supervisory role: Assistant biologist
Working hours: LFCT operates 37.5 hours working week; normally 9-5. Some evening and weekend work will be required.

Introduction

Lochaber Fisheries Trust is a charity which has been working to conserve and protect fish and freshwater habitats since 1996. We cover an area from the Sound of Mull up to Loch Nevis on the west coast, and from Rannoch Moor in the South to Loch Laggan in the North. Our work involves river catchments, lochs, estuaries, and inshore coastal areas.

Description of the role

Lochaber Fisheries Trust is looking for an experienced fish biologist to manage the trust and lead our team. The successful candidate will manage the day-to-day running of the Trust, deliver an extensive fieldwork programme, design projects, and make funding applications to support future projects. They will line manage the assistant biologist.

Projects planned for 2025 include:

• monitoring sea lice on wild salmonids,
• electrofishing programme to assess juvenile fish densities.
• Salmonid habitat assessment

Priority work

• Delivering monitoring and research projects as well as coordinating delivery of our contract work in relation to fish and freshwater habitats. This will include electrofishing, running smolt traps (fyke nets), seine netting and coastal fyke nets, tagging fish, river habitat surveys, fish, and freshwater pearl mussel rescues.
• Identifying pressures on fish stocks and river habitats and designing work programmes to research and mitigate these pressures. Applying for funding to deliver research priorities where funding is not already in place.
• Assist the Directors to maintain the Trust’s overarching governance to include contributions to monitoring health and safety policies, related GDPR controls, database management and designing and maintaining risk assessments and method statements for all fieldwork.
• Delivering reports on research and monitoring work
• Working with the assistant biologist to maintain databases of biological records.
• Supporting the Trust’s Annual Report and social media requirements
• Undertaking educational and public awareness projects about fisheries and the Trust’s work.

Potential for

• Identifying, designing, and managing habitat improvement projects such as barrier easement and other habitat restoration projects.
• Liaising with regulatory and statutory authorities regarding local and national planning applications and consultation on relevant fishery policies.

Salary and Benefits

The starting salary will be £30-35,000 based on experience. This will be reviewed annually. An employer’s pension contribution of up to 5% matched funding will be made. This role will be subject to an initial 6-month probationary period. You will be entitled to a holiday allowance of 20 days paid leave and nine statutory days. A company vehicle is made available for operational day-to-day usage.

The closing date for applications is 5pm, Friday May 23rd, 2025. For more information or an informal conversation, please contact Lucy Smith on 07796445651.