Research Assistant - Pacuare nesting beach

LAST Association offers limited positions to work as a Research Assistant (RA) in its Sea Turtle Conservation Projects. This job is done voluntarily by the RAs and no salaries or stipends are paid. However, RAs are considered to be part of the project staff and have specific duties to carry out that not every volunteer does. During their stay, RAs learn to perform hands-on conservation work with the sea turtles, and how to manage them and lead volunteers during the field work. In other words, they are an important link between LAST and short term volunteers specifically trained for that.
RAs will sleep in shared cabins belonging to the station of the project area. Three meals a day are included. Sometimes these meals are served and sometimes RAs are asked to cook or help cooking.

RAs will be considered as part of the project staff and will help with the tasks on the field and station, as well as they will have specific duties to carry out. The common duties will be serving as a group leader in the teams of volunteers that patrol the beach at night looking for nesting sea turtles, to assure that all the activities of research and protection are carried out correctly. The RAs will be responsible for tagging (metal and PIT tagging) of turtles and for correctly recording data and research information for each turtle. These data include the measurements of the turtle shell as well as of the nest that she digs, numbers on the metal tags/PIT tags, number of eggs and location of the nest on the beach.
Mostly the nests should be recollected and relocated in the hatchery where other volunteers in charge will dig a new nest according to the previously taken measurements.
The night patrols will be carried out in two shifts of four hours, one 8 p.m. to 12 midnight and the other one from 12 midnight to 4 a.m (depending on the nesting situation, personnel available, shift hours can be modified).
As member of the project staff, the RAs will be asked frequently to work longer hours than other volunteers.
RAs will also help with the maintenance and the cleaning of the station (recycling, raking, bathroom cleaning, cooking, cabins cleaning).
Moreover, the RAs will work on their own respective and specific duties according to the positions they are assigned to. The RAs will be rotating duties every week so they can learn all aspects of the project.