Fishing and Hunting Workers
Agriculture, Food and Natural ResourcesO*NET 45-3031.00United States
Hunt, trap, catch, or gather wild animals or aquatic animals and plants. May use nets, traps, or other equipment.
- Median annual earnings
- $42,752
- Projected change
- −5.9%
- Typical education
- High school diploma or less
- Employment
- 29.32K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
75% of the workforce
Growing to 27.59K by 2035
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The work
What fishing and hunting workers do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- 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.
- Maintain engines, fishing gear, and other on-board equipment and perform minor repairs.
- 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.
- Wash decks, conveyors, knives, and other equipment, using brushes, detergents, and water.
- Connect accessories such as floats, weights, flags, lights, or markers to nets, lines, or traps.
- 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.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $14,204
- 25th percentile
- $24,510
- 50th percentile
- $42,752
- 75th percentile
- $79,179
- 90th percentile
- $182,485
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $42,752 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
−5.9%projected to decline
202529,322 jobs
2035 projected27,588 jobs
1,734 fewer positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- High school diploma or less
- 75%
- Some college
- 15%
- Certificate
- 5%
- Bachelor's degree
- 5%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- 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.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Service Technicians712 postings
- 02Crew Members397 postings
- 03Team Members349 postings
- 04Fisheries Technicians328 postings
- 05Physical Therapist Assistants244 postings
- 06Service Associates234 postings
- 07Guest Services Associates220 postings
- 08Shift Supervisors159 postings
- 09Greenskeepers156 postings
- 10Fish Hatchery Managers150 postings
- 11Family Centered Specialists126 postings
- 12Hatchery Managers119 postings
- 13Seasonal Associates112 postings
- 14Medical Equipment Specialists110 postings
- 15Hatchery Workers107 postings
- 16Night Crew Clerks106 postings
- 17Technicians94 postings
- 18Paint Technicians87 postings
- 19Fish Cutters82 postings
- 20General Utility Workers76 postings
Top employers
- 01National Staffing Solutions732 postings
- 02Greystar Management Services464 postings
- 03Greystar413 postings
- 04CompHealth381 postings
- 05Dick's Sporting Goods300 postings
- 06Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center275 postings
- 07The Giant Company271 postings
- 08Starbucks152 postings
- 09Aramark138 postings
- 10Sky Zone137 postings
- 11YMCA129 postings
- 12Travel & Leisure Group Ltd127 postings
- 13Health Connect America126 postings
- 14Tyson Foods126 postings
- 15Lincare112 postings
- 16Big Y Foods108 postings
- 17Block by Block107 postings
- 18Growmark107 postings
- 19Dunkin' Donuts106 postings
- 20Jackson Physician Search88 postings
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