Fish farmers breed and look after fish and shellfish in small teams.


Typical Salary

£18,000 – £35,000

per year

Working Hours

44–46

hours per week

Career Area

Managers and proprietors in forestry, fishing and related services

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Day-to-day tasks

In your day-to-day duties you could:

  • breed or buy fish in large amounts
  •  feed and monitor fish health
  •  grade and move fish as they grow
  •  maintain buildings, equipment and habitats
  •  treat used water
  •  harvest and sell stock

Skills needed

  • knowledge of biology
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • the ability to work well with others
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • the ability to use your initiative
  • the ability to work well with your hands
  • business management skills 
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

Entry requirements

You may need a driving licence to travel to work, collect feed and equipment and deliver to local buyers.

How to get into this role

You can get into this job through:

  • a college course
  • applying directly

Career progression

You could move into areas like fisheries management, biological science or environmental research by taking a degree qualification.

On a larger farm, you could progress to supervisor or manager.

You could also start your own fish farm.