Will fishermen be replaced by AI?
Updated
Fishermen score 12 of 100 for AI exposure. 78% of their task time still needs a person. AI speeds up the other 22%.
- 22% AI helps
- 78% Needs a person
Low exposure
Lower than 93% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 29 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can't do any of them end to end yet. It speeds up 7 and leaves 22 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Oversee the purchase of supplies, gear, and equipment. AI can compare quotes and draft orders; buyer approves spending. | 55% AI helps |
| Obtain required approvals for using poisons or traps, and notify persons in areas where traps and poison are set. AI drafts permit forms and notices; a person files them. | 50% AI helps |
| Compute positions and plot courses on charts to navigate vessels, using instruments such as compasses, sextants, and charts. Stated the AI role directly and dropped the semicolon. | 40% AI helps |
| Obtain permission from landowners to hunt or trap on their land. AI can draft permission letters; landowner talks stay personal. | 35% AI helps |
| Locate fish, using fish-finding equipment. AI flags sonar returns; crew still picks the fishing spot. | 30% AI helps |
| Participate in animal damage control, wildlife management, disease control, and research activities. Field surveys are physical; AI helps with data and reports. | 30% AI helps |
| Interpret weather and vessel conditions to determine appropriate responses. AI summarizes forecasts; real time calls stay with skipper. | 25% AI helps |
| Teach or guide individuals or groups unfamiliar with specific hunting methods or types of prey. Guiding is in person; AI only helps prepare materials. | 18% Needs a person |
| Direct fishing or hunting operations, and supervise crew members. Live crew leadership at sea needs in person presence. | 15% Needs a person |
| Steer vessels and operate navigational instruments. Hands on helm work at sea; autopilot aids only partly. | 12% Needs a person |
Show the other 19 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Remove catches from fishing equipment and measure them to ensure compliance with legal size. Measuring and sorting catch on deck is physical handling. | 10% Needs a person |
| Select, bait, and set traps, and lay poison along trails, according to species, size, habits, and environs of birds or animals and reasons for trapping them. Replaced 'manually' with 'with hands'. | 8% Needs a person |
| Transport fish to processing plants or to buyers. Hauling and driving catch to buyers is mostly physical logistics. | 8% Needs a person |
| Track animals by checking for signs such as droppings or destruction of vegetation. Reading tracks and signs happens in the field by eye. | 6% Needs a person |
| Maintain engines, fishing gear, and other on-board equipment and perform minor repairs. Engine and gear repairs need hands on, physical skill. | 5% Needs a person |
| Maintain and repair trapping equipment. Trap repairs are hands on work with physical tools. | 5% Needs a person |
| Connect accessories such as floats, weights, flags, lights, or markers to nets, lines, or traps. Attaching floats and markers to gear is hands on work. | 4% Needs a person |
| Put fishing equipment into the water and anchor or tow equipment, according to the fishing method used. Launching and anchoring gear is physical work on deck. | 4% Needs a person |
| Sort, pack, and store catch in holds with salt and ice. Salting, icing and stowing catch is physical handling. | 4% Needs a person |
| Travel on foot, by vehicle, or by equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas. Long travel to remote grounds is physical and vehicle based. | 3% Needs a person |
| Harvest marine life for human or animal consumption, using diving or dredging equipment, traps, barges, rods, reels, or tackle. Underwater and dredge harvesting is physical work at sea. | 3% Needs a person |
| Load and unload vessel equipment and supplies, by hand or using hoisting equipment. Lifting and stowing gear on a vessel is physical labour. | 3% Needs a person |
| Patrol trap lines or nets to inspect settings, remove catch, and reset or relocate traps. Checking and resetting traps and nets is physical field work. | 3% Needs a person |
| Kill or stun trapped quarry, using clubs, poisons, guns, or drowning methods. Humane killing of trapped animals is hands on and physical. | 3% Needs a person |
| Attach nets, slings, hooks, blades, or lifting devices to cables, booms, hoists, or dredges. Rigging slings, hooks and cables is physical, safety critical work. | 3% Needs a person |
| Release quarry from traps or nets and transfer to cages. Releasing animals from nets and gear is hands on work. | 3% Needs a person |
| Wash decks, conveyors, knives, and other equipment, using brushes, detergents, and water. Restated the negated AI clause as work people perform. | 2% Needs a person |
| Scrape fat, blubber, or flesh from skin sides of pelts with knives or hand scrapers. Scraping pelts with knives is fine manual work. | 2% Needs a person |
| Skin quarry, using knives, and stretch pelts on frames to be cured. Skinning and stretching pelts is hands on knife work. | 2% Needs a person |
How fishermen compare
All occupations (923)
Farming, fishing and forestry (12)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Projected change in jobs
- -4.2% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Log every trip in OLRAC Electronic Logbook
- Plot courses in MaxSea TIMEZERO
- Track trip costs and catch in Microsoft Excel
- Read fish-finding sonar returns to pick spots
- Haul, stow, and wash catch on deck
Safer roles nearby
4 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about fishermen and AI
Will AI replace fishermen?
Partly. About 1 in 10 working hours of a fisherman go to tasks AI can already do, mostly buying supplies and drafting permit paperwork. Hauling catch, handling gear, and picking the fishing spot stay with people because they happen on a moving deck.
Which fisherman tasks is AI taking over?
AI is taking on the buying of supplies, gear, and equipment, which scores 55 on exposure out of 100. It compares quotes and drafts orders, and the buyer still approves the spend. Drafting permit forms and notices for trap and poison use, exposure 50, follows the same pattern, with a person filing them.
Which fisherman tasks stay with people?
Washing decks, skinning quarry, and loading vessel gear stay with people, each scoring 2 or 3 on exposure out of 100. These tasks need hands, water, knives, and a body on a moving deck. Harvesting marine life with traps, rods, and dredges also scores 3, since it is physical work at sea.
How can fishermen stay valuable as AI spreads?
Pair the digital records with hands-on deck work. Log every trip in OLRAC Electronic Logbook, plot courses in MaxSea TIMEZERO, and track trip costs in Microsoft Excel. Then keep hauling, gear repair, and catch handling as your daily strength, since no software does that work.
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