Commercial Fisher

What commercial fishers make

The federal wage survey publishes no national pay figures for fishers on their own, because most are self employed or paid a share of the catch instead of a wage. The closest official figures are for the wider group they are counted in, Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations: a 2025 median of $36,630 a year, with the bottom tenth earning $31,760 or less and the top tenth $58,220 or more. Most of that group work on farms, so treat these as a rough guide, not a measurement of what a season at sea pays.

The middle half of the group

At sea you are paid a share, not a wage: the boat sells the trip, expenses come off, and the crew splits what is left. A new deckhand gets the smallest share on the boat. A bad season means a small check, and there is no minimum promised.

What it costs to get there

You do not take on student debt to do this. What you risk is the travel money, and a whole season that lands nothing.

Benefits

• Food and a bunk are on the boat

  While you are fishing you are not paying rent or buying groceries, so the check comes home whole.

• No tuition, no debt

  You learn by doing it, and you are paid from the first trip.

• Short seasons

  Some fisheries pack the year's work into a few intense months and leave the rest open.

• What you usually do not get

  Health insurance, a pension and paid sick days are rare. Most crew buy their own coverage or go without.

The path to becoming a commercial fisher, step by step

There is no school for this. You get to a fishing port and you ask.

1. 1

   High school diploma or the GED (General Educational Development) test

   Grade 12

   Helpful for the rest of your life, but almost no skipper will ask to see it.

2. 2

   Buy a state crew license

   Same day

   Most fishing states sell a crewmember license over the counter or online for a small fee. You need it before you step on board.

3. 3

   Walk the docks

   Days to weeks

   Skippers hire in person, a week or two before the season opens. Being early, sober and willing to work beats every resume.

4. 4

   Your first season as a greenhorn

   One season

   Baiting, coiling, picking fish, cleaning. You learn whether your body and your stomach can take it.

5. 5

   Become crew worth keeping

   2 to 5 years

   After two or three seasons you run gear, fix what breaks and get a bigger share. Some go on to mate, engineer or skipper.

High school courses that help you become a commercial fisher

• Shop and small engine repair

  Things break at sea and nobody is coming to fix them.

• Biology

  You will be identifying species and handling catch to legal size limits.

• Math

  Shares, fuel, ice and price per pound are your paycheck.

• Physical education

  The work is lifting, pulling and standing for 16 hours.

Time and money, at a glance

The license is on the fishery, not on you

Each state licenses fishing inside its own waters, and further out the federal government does it. NOAA Fisheries (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) runs the permits and the rules for federal waters through eight regional management councils, which set seasons, quotas and gear limits fishery by fishery. As crew you mostly need a cheap state crewmember license. The expensive permits belong to the boat or the owner. If you want to run a larger vessel yourself, the United States Coast Guard issues the mariner credential you need to be in charge of it.

Where people start

Ports where crews get hired every year.

• Alaska

  Dutch Harbor, Kodiak, Naknek and Cordova. The biggest seasonal hiring in the country.

• Massachusetts

  New Bedford and Gloucester, scallops and groundfish.

• Oregon and Washington

  Astoria and Westport, crab, tuna and salmon.

• Gulf Coast

  Shrimp and reef fish out of Texas, Louisiana and Florida ports.

Skills that raise your share

• Merchant mariner credential

  Issued by the United States Coast Guard. You need one to be licensed in charge of a bigger vessel, and it turns you from crew into an officer.

• Marine diesel and hydraulics

  A crew member who can fix the engine or the deck winch at sea is worth more than one who cannot.

• Welding

  Steel boats need repairs constantly and yards charge a fortune for it.

• Refrigeration

  Boats that chill or freeze their catch onboard sell it for more, and somebody has to keep the system running.

• First aid and CPR at sea

  Help can be a day away. Crews carry someone who has been trained.

Nice-to-haves

• A clean record and a valid passport

  Some boats fish waters that require border paperwork, and drug testing is normal.

• A reputation

  This industry runs on word of mouth in small ports. One season of showing up sober gets you the next berth.

• Winter work lined up

  Most fisheries do not run year round. Welders, mechanics and carpenters fish in summer and work on land in winter.

• Honest self knowledge about seasickness

  Most people adjust in a few days. A few never do, and there is no shame in finding out cheaply.

The processing plant side

If no skipper will take you the first year, the shore plants hire. Processing crews in Alaska take on thousands of seasonal workers to head, gut, freeze and box what the boats bring in, with a bunk and meals included. The pay is hourly, the hours are brutal and the work is repetitive, but you are in the port, you learn the fishery, and you meet the skippers. Plenty of deckhands got their first berth by working a season in a plant first.

A typical day at sea

There is no clock. You fish when the gear is in the water, which can mean 18 hours on deck and four in your bunk, then up again. You set and haul gear, sort and ice the catch, clear jams, and fix whatever broke. Meals are eaten standing up. The weather decides everything: a bad forecast means running for shelter, a good one means nobody sleeps because you are making money. When the hold is full you steam to town, offload, ice up and go back out.

The honest pros and cons of being a commercial fisher

Work life

Similar paths

• DeckhandWork the deck of a tug, ferry or cargo ship. No degree, but you live where you work.
• Aquaculture TechnicianRaise fish and shellfish for food. Outdoors, on the water, in a small industry the country keeps saying it wants to grow.
• Marine MechanicFix boat engines, outboards and everything wired into them. About a year of training, then work at a marina or your own service truck.

It is one of the deadliest jobs in America

Federal safety agencies put commercial fishing near the top of the fatal injury list year after year. Drowning, falls overboard and vessel disasters are the reasons. Boats that run safety drills and require float coats on deck have far better records, and it is fair to ask a skipper about that before you sign on.

The job is shrinking

The federal career database counts only about 28,200 fishing and hunting workers nationwide in 2025 and expects the number to fall by 2035, with about 3,300 openings a year. Quotas, fuel prices and consolidation mean fewer boats catching the same fish.

In Alaska you cannot just show up and fish

Alaska caps the number of people allowed to fish each commercial fishery. The Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission issues limited entry permits, and the only way to get one is to buy it from a current holder, which for the better salmon and crab fisheries costs tens of thousands of dollars before you have a boat. That is why crew work is the realistic way in.

Some boats carry a federal observer

Trained fishery observers ride along on many vessels to record what comes up in the net, including species nobody meant to catch. Their data sets the quotas everyone fishes under the following year.