Aquaculture and Marine Harvest Labourers

Nature of work

This group includes aquaculture support workers, marine plant gatherers, shellfish diggers and other labourers in aquaculture and fishing. Aquaculture support workers work for public or private fish hatcheries and commercial aquatic farms. Marine plant gatherers and mollusk harvesters may be self-employed.

Job duties

Aquaculture support workers:

• Help aquaculture technicians operate fish hatcheries or other aquatic farms.
• Feed aquaculture stocks, vaccinate stocks, carry out culling and marking or banding techniques and report any observed irregularities in stocks.
• Use, maintain, and clean pumps, filters, tanks, and other aquaculture equipment and clean and maintain aquaculture enclosures.
• Keep daily records of water flow and fish samples.
• Grade and weigh aquaculture stocks.
• Prepare aquaculture stocks for market.
• May operate boats aquaculture operations.

Marine plant gatherers:

• Rake seaweed, dulse, or Irish moss from beach, rocks or shallow water and load into a cart, wagon, or other receptacles.
• They spread gatherings to dry and remove foreign objects and transport gatherings to processing plant.

Shellfish harvesters:

• Dig clams from beds with spades, forks or other instruments, or collect oysters and clean, sort and transport shellfish to market.

Sample job titles

• aquaculture worker
• clam digger
• fish farm helper
• fish hatchery attendant
• lobster pound attendant
• mussel harvester
• shellfish harvester

Skills

• You should have good health, physical stamina, and strength. Agility, coordination, and mechanical aptitude would be helpful. You must also be able to take direction and carry out instructions given by a supervisor.

Job requirements

• Some high school education is usually required.
• Shellfish harvesters require commercial fishing licences.

Other considerations

• Most workers in these jobs work for part of the year and typically earn less than half the yearly income of employees who work for the whole year. Wages will vary according to the specific type of work performed, and annual incomes of many workers in these jobs are relatively low. They are often exposed to harsh weather conditions. The physical demands of this work may make it difficult for people to stay in these jobs for a long time.

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