Fish Farmer Career Profile
- Career Name - Fish Farmer
- Category - Farming & Livestock Management / Business
- Skills Required - Life skills 40% - Career skills 60%
- Basic School Subjects - Language, Biology, Science
- Minimum Required Education - High School Certificate
- Species Worked With - Fish
- Kind of Interaction with Animals - Direct
Do you want to work as a Fish Farmer?
READ: This page helps you to read about the career and the info you need to decide on whether this is indeed the career you want to follow.
RESEARCH: Learn about the skills required and minimum subjects to enter this career, as well as the places where you can study further after school.
PREPARE: If you want to plan and prepare for the career, then join the OZT Community! Members have access to tools, while chatting with other students and experts from around the world. Prepare to be amazed!
CAREER MENTOR
UPDATED:
1 June 2023
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What is a Fish Farmer?
A Fish Farmer breeds and manages large amounts of fresh or saltwater fish for commercial profit.
Species that are commonly farmed:
- carp
- catfish
- salmon
- tilapia
- trout
Fish products:
- Meat
- Oil
This career as well as others where water life is concerned are grouped together under aquaculture as an industry.
PS!
This career only deals with fish farmed for their products, and not for the hobby or aquarium market. That career is dealt with under:
Career Categories
The Crustacean Farmer career can be found in the following career categories:
- Farming and Livestock Management
- Business
What does a Fish Farmer do?
Groups of animals a Fish Farmer works with
What is the level of Interaction with the Animals?
- Directly - A person works directly with the animals with some form of physical contact at least once every few days
- Indirectly - The career doesn't require direct or physical contact at all.
What does a Fish Farmer focus on?
A Fish Farmer breeds and manages large amounts of fish species for commercial profit.
What are the daily tasks of a Fish Farmer?
- Build and maintain fish enclosures, water supply
- Research new breeding methods and practices
- Keep Environment safe and clean
- Monitor nutrition and health of the fish
- Liaise with stock buyers
- Administration and marketing
The working environment of a Fish Farmer
Where does a Fish Farmer work?
Environment –
Fish farmers will spend most of their time outdoors, overseeing the farming procedures. Processing of the products (meat and oil) will be indoors.
Places of Employment –
They work mostly in their own privately owned businesses.
What is the average annual salary of a Fish Farmer?
They can earn a yearly average of US$40,000 per year. But the income depends on many factors, such as how large and established the farm is, the amount of breeding stock, need for Fish products.
Can a Fish Farmer be promoted?
Most farmers own their own businesses, which means you are already the boss.
What difficulties can a Fish Farmer face?
Farming is a labour and financially intensive career. Initial equipment purchases will be expensive, and maintaining a good profit can be difficult.
As Fish are wild animals there will always be a possibility of physical harm to the farmer and workers without strict safety protocols. The work might also entail long hours and working over weekends and holidays.
Future Growth and Possibilities
Overall employment of Fish Farmer is projected to grow steady at around 7%. The demand for cheap farmed Fish meat is growing fast as the ocean fish stock are depleted.
Which Skills are required by a Fish Farmer?
The skills required for a career as a Crustacean Farmer can be divided into two very important groups. The first is the group containing life skills, which are the core skills that are necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life. The second group is career skills, or the specific skills required to allow a person to enter and operate effectively within a specific career. Some or maybe even all of the life skills can assist in strengthening the career skills, and they might even be the same for specific careers.
Life Skills
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Effective communication
- Interpersonal relationship
Career Skills
- Animal handling
- Animal care
- Good health and physical fitness
- Computer literacy
Which Subjects must I have at School to prepare for this career?
Language as a subject is key for you to understand more about communication and agricultural terminology.
A basic biological or physiological knowledge of Fish is extremely important if you plan to work with them every day.
Science is a good subject to have if you want to gain admission into college or university.
The subjects you choose at school are important as they lay the foundation for further studies at college or university. While still at school, it’s also important to learn more about the animals you will work with, as well as gain some experience.
OZT has a list of various tertiary institutions where you can study further, after school. Each of these institutions also have their own Group page on OZT where you will find the exact subjects they require of you to have passed in school. Keep these requirements in mind, and discuss it with your school, guidance counselor and parents to ensure that you are prepared!
What will I need to Study to become a Fish Farmer?
Minimum Requirements
The minimum qualifications to become a farmer is a High School Certificate. For more intensive farming, a college diploma or university degree would be best.
Study Focus
Majors –
You can follow a diploma or degree with majors in animal science, animal management, animal processing.
Short Courses –
Short Courses in the production of animal products can be taken.
Study Duration
The duration of a College Diploma is between 2 to 3 years, and a University Degree is between 3 and 4 years. Short Courses are usually between a few weeks and a year.
Possible Career Preparation Paths
If this is your dream career that you want to pursue, then it’s important to plan the way forward.
Why is planning important?
To ensure that you understand the requirements for your career, and that you are always prepared for the next step on the road towards your dream. A Preparation Path is like your road map to where you want to be.
Possible Paths:
Possible Combined Career Paths
It is possible to sometimes combine two or more related careers. This normally happens when you study and practice a specific main career, but the knowledge and experience gained also help you to have a paying hobby or secondary income career.
Possible Alternatives (there are a lot more):
Average level of education of all the people who enter the career
Licenses, Certificate, Registration and Professional Associations
Due to the sanitary requirements involved in farming with certain species of Fish, some countries will require permits.
Learn more about requirements by joining the OZT Community.
Professional Associations
Where can I study further?
All of the above information will help you understand more about the Career, including the fact that there are different paths to take to reach it. But if you are almost done with High School (Grades 11 or 12), you also need to start thinking about further studies, and WHERE you will study.
See the List of Universities, Colleges and Online Training Academies who offer courses towards the field of farming and livestock management.
Join the OZT community and Career Group
Join us as a special member and learn more about becoming a Fish Farmer.
Members of the Platform have special access to:
- Info on the best places where you can study (colleges, universities and online)
- Expertly designed advice to prepare you for the career, and links to places where you can gain valuable experience. For some career experience is necessary, otherwise you wont get the job!
- Top notch info on each of the different species you will work with
- Make friends around the world and share knowledge
- Compete and win points, badges, games, prizes and certificates. Be the best of the best, while you learn and prepare!
If you have decided on being a Fish Farmer, please click on the JOIN GROUP button. Members will be directed to the Group, while non-members will be assisted to register first.
If this career is NOT the career for you, then you may return to the MAIN CAREER menu, and search for something different.
IMPORTANT!
Members interested in farming with fish, crustaceans and water based mollusks are all grouped together under the AQUACULTURIST CAREER GROUP as they share a lot of common traits.
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