Field entry, published 2026-11-03T00:00:00.000Z, updated 2026-11-03T00:00:00.000Z. Group: Major Group 6: Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers
How are fishery workers classified?
| Major group | Major Group 6: Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers |
|---|---|
| Skill level | Skill level 2, ISCO-08, ILO |
| Code ladder | Major Group 6, then sub-major, minor and unit groups in ISCO-08 |
Classification only, not a job decision
This guide describes fishery groupings in ISCO-08. It does not determine the grouping or code for any individual fishery worker.
Fishery workers in ISCO-08 are skilled workers whose main work is catching fish and other aquatic life, or raising aquatic life, mainly for sale. The water is the first clue, but it is not the whole story. A fishery worker needs knowledge of species, seasons, waters, gear and handling, and must make judgements that affect both the catch and the stock that remains. That combination of water knowledge and skilled handling places fishery work in Major Group 6, in the same sub-major family as forestry workers, hunters and trappers, and at skill level 2.
How do aquaculture workers differ from capture fishers?
Aquaculture workers raise fish, shellfish, seaweed or other aquatic organisms under controlled conditions. Their work resembles farming more than hunting: stocking ponds, tanks, cages or coastal sites, feeding, monitoring growth and water quality, preventing disease, and harvesting at the right size and time. Capture fishers, by contrast, seek wild stock that they do not own or feed. Their skill centres on finding fish, choosing gear, reading tides, currents and weather, and handling a catch that may be alive, fragile and perishable. Both groups produce aquatic food for sale, and both require skilled judgement, but the relationship to the stock is opposite. One cultivates, the other harvests a wild resource. ISCO-08 keeps them separate for that reason, even though both sit under fishery work.
What divides inland, coastal and deep-sea fishing?
Capture fishing splits by where the work happens, because place changes the vessel, the gear, the risk and the knowledge required.
- Inland and coastal waters fishery workers fish rivers, lakes, estuaries and near shore waters, often from small boats or from shore, with gear suited to shallow or confined waters and to local species.
- Deep-sea fishery workers fish far offshore, usually from larger vessels, on longer trips, with heavier gear, navigation and safety demands, and with catches that must be preserved for a longer journey to market.
- Aquaculture workers, already described above, work at fixed sites rather than on open fishing grounds.
A fisher who moves between inshore and offshore work is grouped by the main work of the job, not by a single trip. The classification follows the settled pattern of waters, vessels and gear, together with the species and markets that pattern serves.
What skilled tasks run through all fishery work?
Across all three kinds of fishery work, certain tasks recur. Workers select and maintain nets, lines, traps, cages and other gear. They judge weather and water conditions and decide whether to fish, where to fish and when to return. They sort, grade, clean and store the catch so it reaches buyers safely, which often means working quickly in cold, wet conditions. They maintain boats, engines and safety equipment, and they keep records of catch, effort and sales where the job requires them. In aquaculture, feeding, water testing and disease observation add a husbandry layer. In capture fishing, navigation, stock knowledge and gear repair add a hunting layer. The skilled element is not strength alone. It is the ability to combine those tasks into a productive, safe season.
Where do hunters and trappers fit, and where do they not fit?
Hunters and trappers share the same minor grouping family as fishery workers, but they are not fishery workers. Their quarry is wild land animals, not aquatic life, and their tools, seasons and habitat knowledge differ accordingly. The shared family reflects a broader logic: forestry, fishery and hunting all harvest managed or wild living resources for market purposes. Within that family, the classification still separates the activities, so a hunter is not counted as a fisher and a fisher is not counted as a hunter. That separation matters when statistics are used to discuss fish stocks, game management or forestry separately, because merging them would hide exactly the differences policymakers and researchers need to see.
Which water work sits outside Major Group 6?
Several water related jobs sit elsewhere. Fish processing workers, who fillet, freeze, can or pack fish after landing, belong with food processing trades or machine operation, depending on their tasks. Ship officers and deck crew on large commercial vessels may belong with transport or other groups when their main work is navigation and vessel operation rather than fishing itself. Managers of aquaculture or fisheries enterprises are classified by management responsibility. Subsistence fishers, who fish mainly for household or community consumption, belong in the subsistence family of Major Group 6. Market purpose, main tasks and skilled responsibility, taken together, are what place a job inside fishery work rather than in one of those neighbouring groups.
Sources checked
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