How hard is it to land a fishing job?

Factual Questions
1

Curious on how do you land a job like this? East Coast preferably.

2

Where on the east coast, it’s kinda big? Also, just USA or Canada included (or vice versa for you Canucks).

3

I’m from Chicago. I have no clue about this. Maybe Boston? I tried looking info on internet but didn’t come up with much.

4

What do you mean by a “fishing job”? Are you looking for work as a deckhand on a commercial fishing vessel?

Deckhand jobs are low-skilled, meaning they don’t require any formal qualifications. Plus, deckhands are typically taken on for a voyage, or for a season, but there is no long-term commitment on either side. These factors mean that employers (the skippers of fishing vessels) tend not to invest hugely in sophisticated recruitment procedures. Jobs are advertised locally, or by word of mouth.

So, if you want such a job, your best strategy is to head off to a fishing port, and take a temporary job that gives you enough free time to spend time where fishermen spend their time. Keep your ear to the ground and ask around; make sure that people know that you’re looking for a deckhand position, and try to make sure that if one comes up you’ll hear about it. When you get there, you’ll find out where jobs are advertised; it’s quite likely to be a bulletin board in a bar, or in a local community centre. Your first job you will probably only get half the share of the other crewmembers; you havea lot to learn and they’re trying you out. But if you make a go of it there’s a good chance that you’ll be offered further jobs by the same skipper.

It will help if you have non-fishing commercial sailing experience, e.g. as a deckhand on some other kind of vessel.

5

What sort of fishing? You want to be a deep-sea trawlerman? Longline fishing for halibut or mackerel? A lobsterman? There are all sorts of fishing, requiring different skills.

Mostly, I think, its the sort of work you are born into, though I guess if you have seamanship skills you might find an opening.

6

Yeah a deck hand would be ok. I really have no experience except serving 4 years on a destroyer in Navy but I’m 41 now. Is that too old for something like this?

7

I really don’t know what type of fishing… I agree too, it seems like something your born into. That’s why I’m curious on how hard it would be to land a low level job on a boat.

8

It’s hard work, and generally seen as a young man’s game. But there are no fixed age limits.

9

I had a friend who went to Alaska to work on fishing boats. His idea was that you worked for a season then lived off the pay that you made for the rest of the year. What he found out trying to get a job was: if you can cook that’s a leg up getting hired - but that means you are the ships cook in addition to being a fisher hand, starting out you will only get the nastiest most dangerous jobs that nobody else wants. Keep that in mind.

10

For around $50,000 you could buy a decent boat and a power troll permit for salmon, but it would be on the west coast.

11

This is pretty accurate for Alaska too. There’s constant turnover in the fishing industry so there’s always someone hiring, especially at the start of a season. You’re best bet is to walk the docks, talk to people in the diner or bar, etc until you find someone who needs a deckhand.

Being the greenhorn on a fishing boat isn’t exactly what you’d call “skilled labor.” Some traits that will make you more desirable to a hiring captain (in no particular order):

  1. Drug-free. Drug abuse adds lots of “I fired Steve when I caught him smoking meth in the engine room” style drama, which skippers love to avoid.

  2. Have some experience on boats, even if it’s just enough to know you don’t get seasick (or don’t get too seasick).

  3. Financially stable with reliable transportation. No captain wants to get a call two days before the start of the season informing him that you’re stuck 1,000 miles away and need a $600 loan for a plane ticket because you’re somehow broke despite making $15,000 last month.

  4. Hard worker in general. Some experience in construction, loading trucks, farming, or some other “tough” job will help convince the captain that you won’t burn out after one 7-day trip.

Keep in mind that the boats that hire the most are those that have the hardest time keeping crew, which usually means there’s something less than ideal about the boat. You may have to take a job on a shitty boat for a season in order to get some experience, but it shouldn’t take you long to find a job on a better boat if you’re dedicated to working hard.

12

Besides Alaska where is the best place for employment? I’m assuming it’s somewhere in Massachusetts. I just can’t see myself flying to Alaska. Thanks for the tips too.

13

The Mass fishing fleet is getting smaller - there are lots of unemployed fisherman looking for boats. The latest set of fishing regs essentially put a bunch of boats out of business because there aren’t enough quotas to make the boats economical.