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Fishing and Hunting Workers

Hunt, trap, catch, or gather wild animals or aquatic animals and plants. May use nets, traps, or other equipment. May haul catch onto ship or other vessel.

What you’d do

  • Steer vessels and operate navigational instruments.
  • Remove catches from fishing equipment and measure them to ensure compliance with legal size.
  • Direct fishing or hunting operations, and supervise crew members.
  • Interpret weather and vessel conditions to determine appropriate responses.
  • Travel on foot, by vehicle, or by equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas.
  • Select, bait, and set traps, and lay poison along trails, according to species, size, habits, and environs of birds or animals and reasons for trapping them.
  • Maintain engines, fishing gear, and other on-board equipment and perform minor repairs.
  • Connect accessories such as floats, weights, flags, lights, or markers to nets, lines, or traps.

Skills that matter

  • Coordination
  • Critical Thinking
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Speaking
  • Monitoring
  • Time Management

How to get there

Little to some preparation: usually a high school diploma or GED, though some jobs do not need one

Also called

  • Deckhand
  • Lobster Fisherman
  • Nuisance Trapper
  • Trapper
  • Commercial Fisherman
  • Commercial Fishing Vessel Operator

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