Fishing and Hunting Workers
45-3031.00
Updated 2025

The occupation code you requested, 45-3021.00 (Hunters and Trappers), is no longer in use. In the future, please use 45-3031.00 (Fishing and Hunting Workers) instead.

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.

Sample of reported job titles: Commercial Fisherman, Commercial Fishing Vessel Operator, Deckhand, Fisherman, Fur Trapper, Hunter, Lobster Fisherman, Nuisance Trapper, Trapper, Wildlife Control Operator

Occupation-Specific Information

Tasks

  • 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.
  • Wash decks, conveyors, knives, and other equipment, using brushes, detergents, and water.
  • Harvest marine life for human or animal consumption, using diving or dredging equipment, traps, barges, rods, reels, or tackle.
  • Oversee the purchase of supplies, gear, and equipment.
  • Load and unload vessel equipment and supplies, by hand or using hoisting equipment.
  • Scrape fat, blubber, or flesh from skin sides of pelts with knives or hand scrapers.
  • Patrol trap lines or nets to inspect settings, remove catch, and reset or relocate traps.
  • Locate fish, using fish-finding equipment.
  • Kill or stun trapped quarry, using clubs, poisons, guns, or drowning methods.
  • Maintain and repair trapping equipment.
  • Obtain permission from landowners to hunt or trap on their land.
  • Put fishing equipment into the water and anchor or tow equipment, according to the fishing method used.
  • Compute positions and plot courses on charts to navigate vessels, using instruments such as compasses, sextants, and charts.
  • Sort, pack, and store catch in holds with salt and ice.
  • Obtain required approvals for using poisons or traps, and notify persons in areas where traps and poison are set.
  • Track animals by checking for signs such as droppings or destruction of vegetation.
  • Skin quarry, using knives, and stretch pelts on frames to be cured.
  • Transport fish to processing plants or to buyers.
  • Attach nets, slings, hooks, blades, or lifting devices to cables, booms, hoists, or dredges.
  • Teach or guide individuals or groups unfamiliar with specific hunting methods or types of prey.
  • Release quarry from traps or nets and transfer to cages.
  • Participate in animal damage control, wildlife management, disease control, and research activities.
  • Operate and maintain drone technology for aerial surveillance of hunting and fishing areas.
Find occupations related to multiple tasks

Technology Skills

  • Analytical or scientific software — DeerDays; Strat-Tech Deer Hunting Expert; Winchester Ammunition Ballistics Calculator
  • Data base user interface and query software — Catchlog Trading Catchlog; OLRAC Electronic Logbook Software Solution
  • Inventory management software — Inventory management systems
  • Map creation software — MaxSea TIMEZERO; P-Sea WindPlot; Signet Nobeltec Catch; Trimble MyTopo Terrain Navigator Pro
  • Office suite software — Microsoft Office software Hot technology
  • Route navigation software — MaxSea Time Zero Navigator NOAA
  • Spreadsheet software — Microsoft Excel Hot technology
Hot technology
Hot Technologies are requirements most frequently included across all employer job postings.

Occupational Requirements

Work Activities

  • Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials — Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
  • Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment — Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.
  • Performing General Physical Activities — Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
  • Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
  • Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
  • Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
  • Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
  • Controlling Machines and Processes — Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
  • Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
  • Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
  • Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
  • Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment — Servicing, repairing, adjusting, and testing machines, devices, moving parts, and equipment that operate primarily on the basis of mechanical (not electronic) principles.
  • Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
  • Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
  • Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
  • Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
  • Training and Teaching Others — Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.

Detailed Work Activities

Find occupations related to multiple detailed work activities

Work Context

  • Outdoors, Exposed to All Weather Conditions — 89% responded “Every day.”
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams — 58% responded “Every day.”
  • Duration of Typical Work Week — 80% responded “More than 40 hours.”
  • Freedom to Make Decisions — 60% responded “A lot of freedom.”
  • Contact With Others — 45% responded “Constant contact with others.”
  • Exposed to Extremely Bright or Inadequate Lighting Conditions — 47% responded “Every day.”
  • Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets — 58% responded “Every day.”
  • Spend Time Standing — 35% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
  • Exposed to Very Hot or Cold Temperatures — 37% responded “Every day.”
  • Level of Competition — 45% responded “Extremely competitive.”
  • Telephone Conversations — 45% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
  • Work Schedules — 57% responded “Seasonal (only during certain times of the year).”
  • Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls — 38% responded “More than half the time.”
  • Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals — 33% responded “Some freedom.”
  • Exposed to Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites, or Stings — 45% responded “Every day.”
  • Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable — 37% responded “Every day.”
  • Indoors, Not Environmentally Controlled — 60% responded “Every day.”
  • Physical Proximity — 50% responded “Moderately close (at arm's length).”
  • Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions — 35% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
  • E-Mail — 48% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
  • Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — 40% responded “Very important results.”
  • In an Open Vehicle or Operating Equipment — 42% responded “Every day.”
  • Health and Safety of Other Workers — 33% responded “Very high responsibility.”
  • Spend Time Keeping or Regaining Balance — 30% responded “Less than half the time.”
  • Frequency of Decision Making — 42% responded “Every day.”
  • Consequence of Error — 42% responded “Fairly serious.”
  • Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body — 37% responded “Less than half the time.”
  • Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 33% responded “Very important.”
  • Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team — 40% responded “Very important.”
  • Deal With External Customers or the Public in General — 29% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities — 25% responded “Important.”
  • Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers — 30% responded “Moderate responsibility.”
  • Outdoors, Under Cover — 32% responded “Once a year or more but not every month.”
  • Spend Time Walking or Running — 40% responded “Less than half the time.”
  • Time Pressure — 29% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”

Experience Requirements

Job Zone

Title
Job Zone One: Little or No Preparation Needed
Education
Some of these occupations may require a high school diploma or GED certificate.
Related Experience
Little or no previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, a person can become a waiter or waitress even if he/she has never worked before.
Job Training
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few days to a few months of training. Usually, an experienced worker could show you how to do the job.
Job Zone Examples
These occupations involve following instructions and helping others. Examples include agricultural equipment operators, dishwashers, floor sanders and finishers, landscaping and groundskeeping workers, logging equipment operators, baristas, and maids and housekeeping cleaners.
SVP Range
(Below 4.0)

Training & Credentials

State training
Local training
Certifications
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State licenses

Apprenticeship Opportunities

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Worker Requirements

Skills

  • Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  • Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Knowledge

  • Geography — Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
  • Mechanical — Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
  • Biology — Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
  • Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • Law and Government — Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
  • English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
  • Sales and Marketing — Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
  • Education and Training — Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Education

How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:

  • 45%
     
    Less than high school diploma required
  • 30%
     
    High school diploma or equivalent required
  • 15%
     
    Some college, no degree required

Worker Characteristics

Abilities

  • Spatial Orientation — The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Far Vision — The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Static Strength — The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Flexibility of Closure — The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Trunk Strength — The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness — The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Control Precision — The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Depth Perception — The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Manual Dexterity — The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Multilimb Coordination — The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Dynamic Strength — The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Extent Flexibility — The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Reaction Time — The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Hearing Sensitivity — The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Visual Color Discrimination — The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.

Interests

Interest code: RC
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  • Realistic — Work involves designing, building, or repairing of equipment, materials, or structures, engaging in physical activity, or working outdoors. Realistic occupations are often associated with engineering, mechanics and electronics, construction, woodworking, transportation, machine operation, agriculture, animal services, physical or manual labor, athletics, or protective services.
  • Conventional — Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources.

Work Styles

  • Perseverance — A tendency to exhibit determination and resolve to perform or complete tasks in the face of difficult circumstances or obstacles at work.

Workforce Characteristics

Wages & Employment Trends

Median wage data for Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations.
Median wages (2024)
$17.67 hourly, $36,750 annual
State wages
Local wages
Employment (2024)
21,900 employees
Projected growth (2024-2034)
Decline (-1% or lower)
Projected job openings (2024-2034)
2,800
State trends
Top industries (2024)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024 wage data and 2024-2034 employment projections . “Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2024-2034). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.

Job Openings on the Web

State job openings
Local job openings

More Information

Professional Associations

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National Associations
Regional Associations