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Commercial fisherman skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical commercial fisherman skills. We ranked the top skills for commercial fishermen based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 26.1% of commercial fisherman resumes contained safety procedures as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a commercial fisherman needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 commercial fisherman skills for your resume and career

1. Safety Procedures

Safety procedures are a set of standardized procedures, that ensures minimal to no risk to people, resources, and the work environment. A company follows the step-by-step safety procedures as it they not only keep the customers and the employees safe, but also help in avoiding legal claims.

Here's how commercial fishermen use safety procedures:

Followed safety procedures in a labor intensive environment.
Complied with all applicable government rules, regulations, government agencies, regulatory bodies, safety procedures and standard operating procedures.

2. Vessel Maintenance

Vessel Maintenance is a routine process that requires adequate check-up, repair, and updating of the various parts of a vessel. The goal is to keep the vessel in good shape at all times to avoid unnecessary breakdowns and other challenges that might occur when the vessel is offshore. The maintenance process can range from changing its engine oil to painting its body and lubricating parts of the machinery prone to friction.

Here's how commercial fishermen use vessel maintenance:

Managed daily factory operations, vessel maintenance, and catch integrity as the deck boss and factory foreman.
Job Duties: Vessel maintenance and gear repair, Purse seine, catch and deliver salmon.

3. Hydraulic Systems

Here's how commercial fishermen use hydraulic systems:

Maintained main engines and generator, repaired and maintained all electrical, electronic and hydraulic systems.
Have worked with hydraulic systems and various pumps.

4. Deck Hand

Here's how commercial fishermen use deck hand:

Operated in roles as first mate, engineer, deck boss and deck hand.
Deck hand on a 34 ft Salmon Fishing Vessel in Alaska's Bristol Bay

5. RAN

RAN stands for "revenue anticipation note," which refers to a practice where an organization (often the government) borrows money to support a specific project. When these funds are then repaid, the money given to the lenders comes from the profits generated by the business originally funded.

Here's how commercial fishermen use ran:

Worked on a salmon trolling boat and ran the fishing gear on the back deck.
Picked fish, ran hydraulics, and mended nets.

6. Hoisting

Here's how commercial fishermen use hoisting:

Pull and guide nets, traps, and lines onto vessels, by hand or using hoisting equipment.
Load and unload vessel equipment and supplies, by hand or using hoisting equipment.

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7. GPS

GPS stands from Global Positioning System. It is a navigation system comprising of satellites that helps in determining the location, velocity, and synchronize time data for different modes of travel like air, sea, or land.

Here's how commercial fishermen use gps:

Follow commands given by Captain:deliveries, cleaning, radio,GPS relay to other boats, etc.
Operate electrical equipment such as VHF radios, GPS, radar and chart plotters or depth sounders.

8. Tuna

Here's how commercial fishermen use tuna:

Crewed boat and caught off shore fish: grouper, tuna, snapper, swordfish, and a variety of sharks.
Worked on a variety of fishing boats Tuna fishing, Sword fishing, Long lining, Monk fishing.

9. Hoists

Here's how commercial fishermen use hoists:

Operated various equipment drenches and hoists, hydraulically controlled, used welding equipment.
Attach nets, slings, hooks, blades, and/or lifting devices to cables, booms, hoists, and/or dredges.

10. Booms

Here's how commercial fishermen use booms:

Navigated the vessel Splice line Efficiently operated hydraulic boom and winch

11. Coast Guard

A coast guard is a maritime defence organization of a nation. The duties that a coast guard embraces may vary from one nation to the other. They are a strongly armed military establishment with customs and duties. A coast guard's tasks are different from the navy and the transit police. They are generally having the duty to carry search and rescue but without law enforcement authority.

Here's how commercial fishermen use coast guard:

Carried out routine and scheduled maintenance in compliance with U.S. Coast Guard regulations.
Observed all Coast Guard regulations and marine mammal protection laws.

12. Mechanical Maintenance

Here's how commercial fishermen use mechanical maintenance:

Use of all electronic's, maps, charts, mechanical maintenance, hula maintenance....

13. Gill Nets

Here's how commercial fishermen use gill nets:

Operated boats & tractors, fished gill nets, delivered salmon to seafood processor, set-up & break down running gear.
Licensed Fisherman using crab pots, gill nets and selling seafood - Fixed boats with mechanical problems

14. Hydraulic Equipment

Here's how commercial fishermen use hydraulic equipment:

Operate fishing gear and hydraulic equipment.

15. Physical Labor

Physical labor refers to the tangible stress placed on human bodies.

Here's how commercial fishermen use physical labor:

Completed repetitive hard physical labor without breaks.
Required intense physical labor trips lasting 1-3 days.

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List of commercial fisherman skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a commercial fisherman resume and required skills for a commercial fisherman to have include:

Safety Procedures
Vessel Maintenance
Hydraulic Systems
Deck Hand
RAN
Hoisting
GPS
Tuna

Hoists
Booms
Coast Guard
Mechanical Maintenance
Gill Nets
Hydraulic Equipment
Physical Labor
Engine-Room Watches

Vessel Equipment
Alaskan
Deck Equipment
On-Board Equipment
Diesel Engines
Position Loads
Processing Plant

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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