The labor market shortage of population dynamics / stock assessment scientists

I played a minor role in this study and have a minor comment (Demand for marine scientists grows):

A new report*, released Monday by NOAA Fisheries, concludes that the supply of marine scientists trained to estimate the size and health of fish stocks is shrinking due to a variety of factors, including limited funding that has caused a shortage of faculty and graduate students in the discipline. At the same time, the demand for such scientists, who must have strong biology, math and computer science skills, is increasing because of requirements under the newly reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act, a federal fishing law that mandates the agency to end overfishing by 2010.

...

He said the typical starting salary for a stock assessment scientist with a graduate degree is $40,000 to $50,000 and jumps to $60,000 for someone with a doctorate degree.

...

The Magnuson-Stevens Act called for the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Education to collaborate on a study of the shortage in graduate and doctorate students earning degrees in subjects related to fishery science. The resulting joint report to Congress estimates that while the country will need 180 to 340 new fishery stock assessment scientists in the next 10 years, academic institutions are likely to produce only 160 scientists in this field.

To close the gap, the report calls upon NOAA Fisheries, higher education institutions and the private sector to take such actions as increasing research funding, hiring more faculty, expanding fellowship and internship opportunities and strengthening students' quantitative skills in math and population dynamics.

The problem from an economic standpoint is that $60,000 is not enough incentive to get biologists to get the mathematical and statistical training needed to do this type of work. If the labor market for population dynamics-types were competitive with a shortage the wage would rise, encouraging entry into the market by graduate students (e.g., see finance PhD programs).

*Here is the report:

U.S. Dept. of Commerce and U.S. Dept. of Education. 2008. The shortage in the number of individuals with post-baccalaureate degrees in subjects related to fishery science. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-F/SPO-91, 84 p. http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/report_congress/ShortageOfDegrees.pdf

Comments

[David Zetland]

$60k? Are you kidding? Let industry fund it @$120k -- it will be a good investment.

[Rich Kazmierczak]

Stock assessment scientists are trained professionals? I would have never guessed that given the stock assessments that I have looked at!