NOAA AB jobs?

[8ball]

Does anyone know why NOAA seems to always have AB jobs listed, is there high turnover and if so why?

[DeckApe]

Yes, because you don't get much time at home.

[hawaii5-0]

I had a buddy that sailed with them for a year and just like DeckApe said was gone for long stretches, and the pay was also crappy. I think it was like $200/day for an AB. But then again this was around 3 years ago, so who knows what the rate is now.

[8ball]

I spoke with several people at NOAA today as I've applied for a position as Fisherman, I was told that there may or may not actually be an opening, they just like to keep a number of applicants on the string in case they need someone. Also I asked about " mixed tour", if this represented a real full time job and got the same non-specific answer. They couldn't tell if they were going to hire or not due to budgetary issues. I'm not sure if I should put much hope in NOAA especially when it's only a 40k dollar a year job with no apparent guarantee of overtime, I've been a commercial fisherman for over 35 yrs. and have a 1600gt masters license and finding a job is starting to look a little sketchy.