Have You Prepared Yourself for the Changing Employment Arena?

Fisheries education, employers of fishery biologists, and the issues facing emerging fisheries professionals are changing.  This changing fisheries landscape presents a challenge for students planning to seek employment in the fisheries profession.  Likewise, there has been a decrease in the number of students majoring in natural resources disciplines (fisheries, wildlife, and forestry) and more students are majoring in environmental studies, which may reflect human demographics and population trends where people are moving to cities from rural areas.  The missions of state and federal agencies are broadening too as they focus more on environmental challenges in addition to traditional management of fisheries and wildlife, but this has also lead to additional opportunities for fisheries students.  With this diversification of agency missions comes the need for fisheries students to be proactive in taking courses and gaining experiences to best position themselves for fisheries employment, such as taking interdisciplinary courses and volunteering.  In short, students need to start planning early to take the courses they need, gain the experiences they want, and build the professional network required to get the job they want.