Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers · code 6223

Deep-sea fishery workers

Sonar can find the fish. Running a trawler through a North Atlantic storm is still a crew's job.

AI barely touches eight of the nine tasks, including directing the crew, keeping the catch fresh and mending nets. Keeping the ship's log is mostly out of its reach too.

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

Deep-sea fishery workers, as skippers or members of fishing vessel crews, catch deep-sea fish for sale or delivery to wholesale buyers, marketing organizations or at markets. Tasks include - (a) preparing and repairing nets and other fishing gear and equipment; (b) commanding and operating fishing vessels to, from and at deep-sea fishing grounds; (c) determining areas for fishing, plotting courses and computing navigational positions using compass, charts, tables and other aids; (d) steering vessels and operating navigational instruments and electronic fishing aids; (e) directing fishing operations and supervising crew activities; (f) recording fishing progress and activities, as well as weather and sea conditions, on the ship’s log; (g) baiting, setting and hauling in fishing gear; (h) cleaning, freezing, icing or salting catch on- or offshore; (i) selecting and training vessel crews. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Deep-sea fisher - Trawler skipper Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Fishing operations manager - 1312 - Coastal fishery skipper - 6222 - Fisher(coastal waters) - 6222 - Fisher (inland waters) - 6222 - Fishery labourer - 9216

deep-sea fishery worker
fisheries master

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

82 / 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

109 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 9 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 17.6 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 17.6 = 82.4.

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?

Deep-sea fishery workers 82

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 ship's logs and catch records.
Navigation and fish-finding electronics.
Route and fuel planning.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

Commanding a vessel and crew safely.
Hauling, sorting and processing the catch.
Repairing gear at sea.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

Electronic monitoring rules for catches.
Fuel-saving vessel technology.
Sustainability 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 33, 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.

33
Recording fishing progress and activities, as well as weather and sea conditions, on the ship's log

Low
21
Directing fishing operations and supervising crew activities

Very Low
20
Selecting and training vessel crews.

Very Low
19
Steering vessels and operating navigational instruments and electronic fishing aids

Very Low
19
Determining areas for fishing, plotting courses and computing navigational positions using compass, charts, tables and other aids

Very Low
15
Commanding and operating fishing vessels to, from and at deep-sea fishing grounds

Very Low
13
Baiting, setting and hauling in fishing gear

Very Low
12
Cleaning, freezing, icing or salting catch on- or offshore

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

Very Low

9 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 deep-sea fishers be worried?

Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.

No. The most exposed task is keeping the ship's log, rated Low; navigating, directing the crew and hauling gear rate Very Low. Electronic logbooks and navigation aids help, but deep-sea fishing stays physical and dangerous.

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 →