What does a fisheries officer do?
You board working fishing boats at sea and check that what is in the hold matches what the law and the quota allow.
Also called: fishery protection officer, marine enforcement officer, sea fisheries inspector.
A day looks like
- 1You go out in weather that would keep everything else in port, because that is when there is least oversight.
- 2You climb from a moving boat onto another moving boat, which is the part of the job that is genuinely dangerous.
- 3You measure fish, count boxes and compare all of it against a logbook somebody filled in themselves.
- 4You make a judgement about a skipper who is trying to make a living in an industry with very thin margins.
Hardest part
The people you are regulating are not villains — they are working in one of the most dangerous jobs there is on margins that are already thin, and the rules you enforce are the reason there will be fish in twenty years. Holding both of those at once is the job.
Best part
A stock that was collapsing recovering, because enough people held the line long enough for it to work.
How you actually become a fisheries officer
- At schoolSea time, or a marine or fisheries science background. Either route works.
- TrainingEnforcement, boarding and sea survival training; species identification is examined.
- How longA year of training and supervised patrols before boarding as lead officer.
- Your first jobFisheries officer on patrol vessel or shore-based inspection.
Frequently asked questions
- Why are fishing rules so strict?
- Because fish stocks collapse, and when they do the fishing industry goes with them. Quotas, minimum sizes and closed areas exist so that there is something left to catch, and several stocks have recovered where they were enforced.
- Is boarding boats at sea dangerous?
- It is the most dangerous part of the job. Transferring between two moving vessels in a swell is why sea survival training, lifejackets and strict boarding procedures are non-negotiable.
- Are fishing crews the enemy in this job?
- No, and officers are clear about that. Most boats comply, the industry is dangerous and low-margin, and enforcement works because the honest majority want the rule-breakers caught as much as anyone.
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