Aquaculture Employment

Aquaculture is a growing industry and therefore employment opportunities abound around the world. There are many different types of jobs in the industry, which are covered on the following pages. The seafood demand for human consumption continues to rise and the supply of wild aquatic species cannot keep pace. The need for hatcheries and farms will increase over the next five years to grow or maintain the farmed fish side of the industry.

The aquaculture technicians, aquaculturists and biologists fill a number of roles within the industry, from hatcheries and fish farms to support roles in research facilities.

Workers in fishing and fish processing are necessary to keep the supply of seafood heading to the consumer market. Hatcheries require supervisors, aquaculture technicians and biologists to not only run these facilities properly, but to ensure the fingerlings make it to their final destination, whether that be a wild stream or a fish farm. Those fish farms also require management positions, as well as technicians to run the daily operations.

Aquaculture engineers are active in everything from the design of new farms to the troubleshooting and maintenance of existing facilities.

Aquaculture research facilities are vital to the long term sustainability of fish farming and require lab managers and research scientists to operate them. Aquariums often fulfill research roles and public education opportunities and need aquarists to run their operations.

Aquaculture program officers provide direction within the industry for setting local and international regulations to protect fisheries.

Sales and marketing personnel fulfill similar roles, in addition to providing seafood to customers or supplies to the farming operations.

Veterinarians are becoming more and more involved in the role of protecting aquatic species from disease, while food inspectors ensure the seafood entering the consumer market is safe for human consumption.

Various colleges and universities around the world have aquaculture programs and periodically need professors and assistant professors.

Finally, many support roles, in finance, security and volunteer or seasonal aquaculture positions exist in aquaculture as well.

These positions exist around the world. While the focus of this website is on jobs within the United States and Canada, the aquaculture industry is international. China and India are major producers and consumers in Asia, while Norway has a significant Atlantic salmon industry. Latin and South American countries like Chile are big players in the market as well.