A COMPARISON OF AGENCIES FISHERIES BIOLOGIST SALARIES - 1987, 1990, 1994

The American Fisheries Society (AFS) has reported on fisheries biologi st salary levels since 1977, when the first salary survey appeared in Fisheries 2[5]:2-4. In 1979, 1983, 1987, 1990, and 1994, the AFS condu cted salary surveys among the 50 states and District of Columbia, and, in 1994, we included U.S. federal agencies and Canadian provinces. in general, agencies vary widely in compensation. Overall, the salaries of fisheries biologists tend to increase at a rate slower than inflati on and are significantly less than private sector environmental profes sional salaries. The 1994 average fisheries biologist salary was $35,9 62, which is 36.3% less than the average salary for closely related in dustrial environmental compliance professionals, who average $56,407 p er year not including bonuses. Many states have boosted the salary lev els of their fisheries biologists as a result of previous AFS surveys, and we are confident this progress will continue until more equity ex ists among states and among related environmental professions.