Description
Operate and navigate commercial fishing vessels to locate, harvest, and transport aquatic life. Deploy and retrieve gear, supervise crew, maintain the vessel and equipment, handle catch, and ensure safety and regulatory compliance.
- • Steer the vessel and operate navigational instruments.
- • Compute positions and plot courses on charts to reach and leave fishing grounds.
- • Interpret weather, sea state, and vessel conditions to determine safe operating responses.
- • Locate fish using sonar and other fish-finding equipment.
- • Deploy, anchor, and tow nets, lines, pots, or dredges according to the fishing method used.
- • Patrol and monitor deployed gear; remove catch and reset or relocate gear as needed.
- • Remove catch from gear and measure to ensure compliance with legal size and quotas.
- • Sort, pack, and store catch in holds with ice or salt, maintaining quality.
- • Connect floats, weights, flags, lights, or markers to nets, lines, or traps.
- • Attach nets, slings, hooks, blades, or lifting devices to cables, booms, hoists, or dredges.
- • Maintain engines, hydraulics, fishing gear, and other onboard equipment; perform minor repairs.
- • Wash decks, conveyors, knives, and other equipment using brushes, detergents, and water.
- • Load and unload vessel equipment, bait, fuel, and supplies by hand or with hoisting equipment.
- • Transport fish to tenders, processing plants, or buyers.
- • Direct fishing operations and supervise crew members.
- • Teach and guide crew in safe vessel operations, gear handling, and catch handling.
- • Obtain required permits and approvals and ensure compliance with fishing regulations.
- • Release non-target catch safely from gear and return to the water when required.
- • Oversee the purchase and inventory of supplies, bait, gear, and equipment.
- • Interpret navigational rules and operate communications equipment to coordinate with other vessels and authorities.
- • Plan trips, track fuel and provisions, and manage holds to optimize efficiency and safety.
- • Monitor vessel performance and arrange maintenance or repairs when beyond onboard capability.
- • Ensure emergency and safety equipment is maintained and drills are conducted.
- • File required notifications and reports when setting or retrieving gear in regulated areas.
- • Transfer live catch to tanks or cages when applicable.
- • Coordinate docking, mooring, and cargo transfers with ports, tenders, and processors.
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Agriculture
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
