How To Become A Fishing Vessel Captain: What It Is and Career Path

What is a fishing vessel captain and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a fishing vessel captain. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.29 an hour? That's $38,051 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFishing Vessel CaptainUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,051

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.1

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 8.81%

Asian 4.40%

Black or African American 2.36%

Hispanic or Latino 5.35%

Unknown 4.09%

White 75.00%

Gender

female 7.89%

male 92.11%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

9.1

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

1.1

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a fishing vessel captain

Explore fishing vessel captain education requirements

Most common fishing vessel captain degrees

Bachelor's

71.4 %

Associate

14.3 %

High School Diploma

7.1 %

Start to develop specific fishing vessel captain skills

Skills	Percentages
GPS	100.00%

Complete relevant fishing vessel captain training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New fishing vessel captains learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a fishing vessel captain based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real fishing vessel captain resumes.

Research fishing vessel captain duties and responsibilities

Spearhead cross-functional initiative to achieve successful whole shipments of wild Alaskan salmofrozen and gut.
Spearhead cross-functional initiative to achieve successful whole shipments of wild Alaskan salmofrozen and gut.
Monitor checkout stations to ensure that they have adequate cash available and that they are staffed appropriately.

Prepare your fishing vessel captain resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your fishing vessel captain resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a fishing vessel captain resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable fishing vessel captain resume templates

Build a professional fishing vessel captain resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your fishing vessel captain resume.