Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers · code 6222

Inland and coastal waters fishery workers

An app can log the catch. Hauling in the nets is still hard work.

AI barely touches nine of the ten tasks, including navigating, storing the catch and mending nets. Logging catches and conditions is mostly out of its reach too.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Inland and coastal waters fishery workers, alone or as members of fishing-vessel crews, catch fish or gather other forms of aquatic life in inland or coastal waters for sale or delivery on a regular basis to wholesale buyers, marketing organizations or at markets. Tasks include - (a) preparing and repairing nets and other fishing gear and equipment; (b) selecting areas for fishing, plotting courses and computing navigational positions using compass, charts and other aids; (c) operating fishing vessels to, from and at fishing grounds; (d) baiting, setting, operating and hauling in fishing gear by hand or using hoisting equipment; (e) gathering various forms of aquatic life from shores and shallow waters; (f) maintaining engine fishing gear and other on-board equipment; (g) keeping records of transactions, fishing activities, weather and sea conditions, and estimating costs and budgets; (h) sorting and storing catch in holds with salt and ice; (i) removing catches from fishing equipment, measuring them to ensure compliance with legal size and returning undesirable or illegal catches to the water; (j) directing fishing operations, and supervising fishing crew members. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Coastal fishery skipper - Fisher (coastal waters) - Fisher (inland waters) Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Fishing operations manager - 1312 - Deep-sea fisher - 6223 - Oyster diver - 7541 - Fishing labourer - 9216

fisheries boatman

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

83 / 100

Strongly holds up against AI

Most of this job still needs an actual human. AI would mostly be making the tea.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

104 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 10 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 17.5 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 17.5 = 82.5.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 69 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Inland and coastal waters fishery workers 83

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

Electronic catch logs and records.
Navigation and weather apps.
Costs and budgets.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

Hauling gear and handling the catch.
Reading weather and water.
Running a boat and crew safely.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

Electronic monitoring and catch reporting rules.
Selling direct to buyers.
Sustainable fishing certification.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Low

21 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 50 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

69 how hands-on

Most of this job needs hands, a body or turning up. That's robot territory, and nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to give you a number. We won't make one up.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less fine handwork and fewer cramped spaces than a typical hands-on job. That clears one hurdle for machines. It doesn't mean machines are doing this work yet.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 39 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

69 How
hands-on

39 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, less fiddly work

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, averaged across 2 US jobs .

finger skill 40.2 · hand skill 40.2 · cramped spaces 35.9 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly under 39.4

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 43, against an average of 18. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

43
Keeping records of transactions, fishing activities, weather and sea conditions and estimating costs and budgets

Low
22
Selecting area for fishing, plotting courses and computing navigational positions using compass, charts and other aids

Very Low
19
Directing fishing operations, and supervising fishing crew members.

Very Low
14
Maintaining engine fishing gear and other on-board equipment

Very Low
14
Gathering various forms of aquatic life from shores and shallow waters

Very Low
14
Operating fishing vessels to, from and at fishing grounds

Very Low
14
Baiting, setting, operating and hauling in fishing gear by hand or using hoisting equipment

Very Low
14
Removing catches from fishing equipment, measuring them to ensure compliance with legal size and returning undesirable or illegal catches to the water

Very Low
12
Sorting, and storing catch in holds with salt and ice

Very Low
9
Preparing and repairing nets and other fishing gear and equipment

Very Low

10 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you: 50
AI does it for you: 21

Sidekick wins, by 29 points.

How good a match is this?

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 2312, 3631, 8992

So, should fishers be worried?

Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.

No, though the paperwork is changing. Keeping records of catches, weather and costs is the most exposed task, rated Low; fishing, navigating and handling gear rate Very Low. Electronic logbooks and navigation aids help, but fishing stays physical.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 18 jobs in the “Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers” family, averaging 84. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →