Declined because of basic requirements

This morning I was officially declined for a professional series job that I have been a technician in the field for 10 years. I fought tooth and nail, with 3 reviews from HR. The logic of it’s still doesn’t sit right. Curious if anyone is out there that could give me an analysis of how this conclusion was made.

I applied for series 0482. For those unfamiliar, that series requires:

6 hours of “Aquatic subjects such as limnology, ichthyology, fisheries biology, aquatic botany, aquatic fauna, oceanography, fish culture, or related subjects in fishery biology. “

AND

12 hours of “Animal sciences in such subjects as general zoology, vertebrate zoology, comparative anatomy, physiology, entomology, parasitology, ecology, cellular biology, genetics, or research in these fields. (Excess coursework in aquatic subjects may be used to meet this requirement when appropriate).”

The courses I have and also provided an attached document to support qualifications were

Aquatic subjects: Hydrology (4 credits), oceanography (4 credits)

Animal sciences: Ichthyology (4 credits), Animals as organisms (4 credits) and conservation ecology (4 credits)

(I have a bachelors in environmental science)

I even provided course descriptions and relevancy to fisheries. I attempted to gather what was counted but was given nothing.

The first review said I didn’t have enough aquatic subjects, and “supervisor review” said I didn’t have enough animal sciences.

It’s pretty devastating and is making me think I need to change career paths if this is a dead end. Curious of anyone’s thoughts. Maybe I just can’t read but I felt the requirements are open to “related subjects” and are flexible in where they are counted “if appropriate”