Raise fish and shellfish for food. Outdoors, on the water, in a small industry the country keeps saying it wants to grow.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $49,630 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $35,980 at the lower end to about $76,480 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 2 years after high school, on the usual route.
$500 to $65,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Good demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$49,630
Bottom tenth
$35,980
Top tenth
$76,480
The federal wage survey does not count aquaculture technicians separately. It folds them into agricultural technicians, where the 2025 median is $49,630 a year, the bottom tenth earn $35,980 or less and the top tenth $76,480 or more.
$17.30 to $19.69 an hour
What the bottom tenth to bottom quarter of agricultural technicians earn, 2025
Deckhand and farm technician jobs on oyster leases and at hatcheries are a common start. Many entry jobs are seasonal, running spring through fall. Year-round work is easier to find at hatcheries and research stations than on the water.
$64,070 a year
The median for the wider agricultural technician group in Iowa, the highest of any state
Wyoming ($63,120) and Arizona ($62,990) come next. Oklahoma is the lowest, at $37,840. Moving up to run a hatchery or farm site usually takes a few years as a technician plus a science degree.
Roughly, all in
$500 to $65,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a high school diploma and learning on site, plus your own waders, boots and foul weather gear. The high end is a four year fisheries or aquaculture degree at in-state public tuition, which is what moves you into management or research rather than what gets you hired. A community college certificate sits in between at roughly $4,000 a year. Boat and water safety training is usually paid for by the employer.
You can enter this field with a high school diploma and learn on site. A degree is what moves you from technician to manager or into research. Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) either way.
Housing on remote sites
Some hatcheries and island farms include accommodation, which changes the real value of the wage.
Government jobs
State and federal fish hatcheries hire technicians with a pension and full health coverage.
Seasonal overtime
Harvest and spawning periods mean long paid days.
You are outside
Not a line on a benefits sheet, but it is why most people stay.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Short. You can be working on a farm the summer after high school.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Biology and chemistry are the useful ones. Being able to swim and handle a boat matters more than you would think.
Get on a farm or in a hatchery
A season
Summer and seasonal jobs are the normal way in. Oyster farms, trout hatcheries and university research stations all hire.
Certificate or associate degree
1 to 2 years
Two-year aquaculture, marine technology or fisheries programs. Many are run by coastal community colleges.
Bachelor's degree, if you want to lead
4 years
Fisheries, aquaculture or marine biology. Needed for hatchery management, research and most government positions.
Specialize
Ongoing
Shellfish, finfish, water quality, fish health or recirculating systems. Each one is a different kind of employer.
Biology
Life cycles, disease and growth are the daily subject matter.
Chemistry
Water quality is chemistry: oxygen, ammonia, salinity, pH.
Math
Feed rates, stocking densities and survival counts.
Shop or mechanics
Pumps, aerators and outboard motors break, usually at 6am.
There is no license to be an aquaculture technician. The regulation falls on the operation: state permits for a shellfish lease, water discharge permits, health rules for shellfish sold to the public, and federal permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for anything in federal waters. Individual technicians may need a boat operator credential from the Coast Guard if they run a vessel with crew.
University of Rhode Island
Offers an aquaculture and fishery science major, with a research vessel and a bay campus.
Coastal community colleges
Two-year marine technology and aquaculture programs in Maine, North Carolina, Washington and Florida.
Land-grant universities
Auburn University, Mississippi State University and Kentucky State University all run long-standing aquaculture programs.
Sea Grant programs
Federally supported programs at coastal universities run training, internships and extension work.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Coast Guard captain's license
A merchant mariner credential lets you run the workboat. Instantly more useful on any farm.
Scuba or commercial diving
Net pen and shellfish operations need divers for inspection and repair.
Water quality and fish health training
The technical skill that separates a deckhand from a technician.
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification
The food safety system required for seafood processing. Short course, widely useful.
Strong swimming and boat handling
Non-negotiable on the water, and many employers test it.
Mechanical ability
You will fix a pump in the rain before anyone comes to help.
A driver's license and a truck
Farms are rural and gear is heavy.
Tolerance for cold and early starts
Tides and fish do not care what time you would prefer.
State wildlife agencies and the federal government run fish hatcheries that raise trout, salmon and native species for stocking rivers and supporting recovery programs. The work is steadier than commercial farming, and the jobs come with a government pension and health coverage. It is also conservation rather than food production, which suits some people much more. These jobs are posted on state agency sites and the federal government's official employment site.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Start early, often on a tide rather than a clock. Check oxygen and temperature, feed, and look closely at the stock for anything off. On a shellfish farm that means hauling cages, sorting by size, tumbling and re-setting gear from a boat. In a hatchery it means tanks, grading fish, cleaning screens and recording numbers. Afternoons are maintenance: pumps, nets, boats. Wet hands, most of the year.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) says aquaculture now supplies more than 50 percent of all the seafood produced for people to eat worldwide. In the United States it is a much smaller share, which is why the government keeps saying it wants to grow it.
In 2024 United States aquaculture produced 561 million pounds of seafood worth $1.3 billion, according to NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). That was 26 percent of the value of all American seafood products.
Under the right conditions a single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day, pulling out algae and particles, according to NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Shellfish farms are one of the few kinds of food production that improve the surrounding environment while operating.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Farming, forestry and fishing first, then the rest of the field. See every career in science and environment.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
Tell us about this page. A person reads every message.
No email app on this device? Use Gmail instead: report a mistake in Gmail or say what you like in Gmail.