Aquaculture Worker CV Examples & Writing Guide
An aquaculture CV is judged on stock and numbers. Show the species and life stages you have handled, biomass or tank counts, feed conversion and survival rates, your water quality and mortality record keeping, plus boat handling, dive or forklift certificates and your comfort with early, wet, cold outdoor shifts.
Aquaculture worker CV example (salmon pen site lead, 9 years)
This sample is for a worker who started on an oyster farm, moved into a recirculating trout hatchery and now leads a marine salmon site. The employers are described, not named. Change the species and system to match your own coast or region.
Luis Ferreira
Senior Fish Farm Technician (Marine Pen Site)
Oban, Argyll · 07700 900129 · luis.ferreira@email.com · RYA Powerboat Level 2 · Forklift certificate · Cold water immersion training
Summary
Aquaculture worker with 9 years across marine salmon pens, a recirculating trout hatchery and an oyster farm. Runs an 8-pen site holding about 480 tonnes of Atlantic salmon biomass. Held feed conversion at 1.18 and survival at 94 per cent over the last two production cycles. Keeps daily water quality, feed and mortality records that have passed 4 third-party audits without a finding.
Experience
Senior Fish Farm Technician · Marine salmon farm, west coast of Scotland (8 pens, Atlantic salmon)
Apr 2022 – Present
- Run daily operations on an 8-pen site carrying about 480 tonnes of biomass, with a 4-person crew on 10-hour shifts.
- Manage feeding through a camera-monitored system, holding feed conversion at 1.18 across two production cycles and cutting feed waste by an estimated 9 per cent.
- Record dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity and plankton counts 3 times daily at 3 depths, with no missed readings across 4 years.
- Run weekly sea lice counts on 20 fish per pen, log results and coordinate treatment timing with the site vet and the statutory reporting schedule.
- Removed and recorded mortalities daily and held survival at 94 per cent per cycle against a 90 per cent company target.
- Handle net changes, mooring inspections and dive support 2 to 4 times a month, including cage rigging and predator net checks.
- Operate an 8.5 m workboat daily in exposed water and lead the crew's man-overboard and cold water drills each quarter.
Hatchery Technician · Freshwater trout hatchery, Perthshire (recirculating aquaculture system, rainbow trout)
May 2019 – Mar 2022
- Ran 24 tanks and 6 raceways from egg incubation through smolt, handling about 1.1 million fish a year.
- Tested dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and alkalinity twice daily and adjusted biofilter and oxygen injection to keep every tank in range.
- Maintained the recirculating system: drum filters, biofilters, UV units, degassers, pumps and blowers, with a monthly preventive schedule and a spare parts list.
- Graded and counted 40 batches a year with a mechanical grader, keeping size variation inside the customer specification on 38 of 40.
- Assisted with 9 spawning runs: egg take, fertilisation, disinfection, incubation trays and eye-up counts, averaging 88 per cent eye-up.
- Vaccinated 340,000 smolt across 2 seasons by injection with the fish health team, with no batch losses attributed to handling.
Shellfish Farm Worker · Oyster farm, Argyll (5-hectare foreshore site, floating bag and bottom culture)
Jun 2017 – Apr 2019
- Tended 1,800 floating bags and 6 bottom plots: flipping, tumbling, grading, restocking and gear repair, on tide-driven schedules year-round.
- Graded and packed about 220,000 oysters a season for the live restaurant (half-shell) trade, meeting size and cull standards on every consignment.
- Kept batch registration documents, temperature control and chiller records to shellfish hygiene rules with no breaches in 2 years.
- Repaired and rebuilt 300-plus cages and bags each winter, cutting replacement gear spending by about £5,000 a year.
Education
HNC Aquaculture
Further education college, west coast of Scotland, 2017
Certifications
- RYA Powerboat Level 2
- Cold water immersion and man-overboard training
- First Aid at Work (current)
- Counterbalance forklift certificate (accredited training)
- Level 2 HACCP training (food manufacturing)
- Fish health and biosecurity awareness training, company programme
Skills
What a site or hatchery manager checks first
Aquaculture jobs are small-crew jobs. A site manager who hires wrong is stuck in a boat with that person for ten hours a day, so the CV gets read for fit as much as for skill.
- Species and system. Salmon sea pens, a recirculating trout hatchery, an earth-pond trout farm and an oyster farm are four different jobs. Name the species, the life stages and the system type.
- Numbers on stock. Biomass, tank or pen counts, fish handled per year, hectares or bags tended. Scale tells the manager what you can be trusted with.
- Production numbers. Feed conversion, survival or mortality rate, eye-up percentage, grading accuracy. Anyone who quotes these has been paying attention to the business.
- Records. Water quality logs, mortality records, treatment records, shellfish batch documents. Audits and official inspections run on this paperwork, so a clean record is worth a bullet.
- Water confidence and certificates. Boat handling, dive support, cold water training, swimming ability. Say it plainly.
- The physical truth. Early starts, wet and cold, heavy lifting, tides and weather, weekend rotations, and being on site when a storm or an oxygen crash happens.
Duties by setting, so you can match the advert
Ran 24 tanks and 6 raceways from egg incubation through smolt, about 1.1 million fish a year, with twice-daily water chemistry testing and monthly preventive maintenance on drum filters, biofilters, UV units and pumps.
Operated an 8-pen site carrying 480 tonnes of biomass: camera-monitored feeding, net changes, mooring inspections, predator net checks and daily mortality removal, working from an 8.5 m workboat.
Managed 14 earth ponds of rainbow trout: aerator scheduling, netting and harvest, off-flavour checks, overnight oxygen monitoring in summer heat and feed rate adjustment by water temperature.
Tended 1,800 floating oyster bags and 6 bottom plots on tide-driven schedules: flipping, tumbling, grading, restocking, gear repair and batch documentation under shellfish hygiene rules.
Ran weekly sea lice counts on 20 fish per pen, took health samples for the vet, assisted with treatments and vaccinated 340,000 smolt across 2 seasons by injection.
Assisted with 9 spawning runs: broodstock selection and handling, egg take and fertilisation, disinfection, incubation tray management and eye-up counts averaging 88 per cent.
Supported harvests of up to 60 tonnes a day: crowding, pumping, stunning and bleeding to welfare protocol, icing, grading and cold chain documentation.
Repaired pumps, blowers, aerators, feed lines and plumbing on site, and rebuilt 300-plus cages and bags each winter, cutting replacement gear spending by about £5,000 a year.
Aquaculture CV personal statement examples
Fish farm technician with 9 years across marine salmon pens, a recirculating hatchery and an oyster farm. Runs an 8-pen salmon site at about 480 tonnes of biomass with a 4-person crew. Feed conversion 1.18, survival 94 per cent, and 4 audits passed with no findings.
Hatchery technician with 5 years on recirculating trout and salmon systems, running 24 tanks and 6 raceways and handling about 1.1 million fish a year. Strong on water chemistry, biofilter management, grading and spawning support, with 88 per cent average eye-up across 9 runs.
Shellfish farm worker with 4 years on a 5-hectare oyster farm, tending 1,800 floating bags and 6 bottom plots on tide schedules. Graded and packed 220,000 oysters a season for the live restaurant trade with no hygiene breaches in 2 years.
Fish farm worker with 6 years on 14 rainbow trout earth ponds. Handles aerator scheduling, overnight oxygen monitoring in summer, netting and harvest, feed rate adjustment by temperature, and off-flavour checks before every harvest.
Aquaculture college leaver seeking a hatchery or farm technician role. 300 course hours on water quality testing, tank systems and fish handling, plus 2 summers crewing on a commercial creel boat. Comfortable with 5 a.m. starts, cold and wet work, and weekend rotations. RYA Powerboat Level 2 certificate.
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Rewriting vague bullets
| Vague | Specific |
|---|---|
| Fed and cared for fish daily. | Managed feeding on an 8-pen site through a camera-monitored system, holding feed conversion at 1.18 and cutting feed waste by an estimated 9 per cent. |
| Monitored water conditions. | Recorded dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity and plankton counts 3 times daily at 3 depths with no missed readings in 4 years. |
| Maintained equipment on site. | Kept drum filters, biofilters, UV units, degassers, pumps and blowers on a monthly preventive schedule with a stocked spare parts list. |
| Helped with fish health. | Ran weekly sea lice counts on 20 fish per pen and coordinated treatment timing with the vet and the statutory reporting schedule. |
| Sorted and moved fish. | Graded and counted 40 batches a year on a mechanical grader, meeting the customer size specification on 38 of 40. |
| Kept the stock healthy. | Removed and recorded mortalities daily and held survival at 94 per cent per cycle against a 90 per cent company target. |
| Worked on the boat and nets. | Handled net changes, mooring inspections and dive support 2 to 4 times a month, and operated an 8.5 m workboat daily in exposed water. |
| Followed food safety rules. | Kept batch registration documents, temperature control and chiller records to shellfish hygiene rules with no breaches across 2 years. |
| Assisted with breeding. | Assisted with 9 spawning runs covering egg take, fertilisation, disinfection and incubation, averaging 88 per cent eye-up. |
| Repaired farm gear. | Rebuilt 300-plus cages and bags each winter, cutting replacement gear spending by about £5,000 a year. |
Aquaculture skills to put on your CV
- Husbandry: feeding and feed rate calculation, grading and counting, live transfer and pumping, stocking density, handling and welfare practice, harvest.
- Water quality: dissolved oxygen, temperature, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alkalinity, salinity and turbidity testing, meter calibration, corrective action when a reading goes out of range.
- Systems: recirculating aquaculture systems, flow-through raceways, ponds and aeration, sea pens and moorings, hatchery incubation trays, pumps, blowers and oxygen injection.
- Fish health: mortality recording and disposal, sea lice or parasite counts, sampling for the vet, treatment and bath support, vaccination, biosecurity and gear separation.
- Records: daily logs, feed and mortality records, treatment records, shellfish batch documents, audit preparation and regulatory reporting.
- On the water: workboat handling, small engine maintenance, ropes and rigging, dive support, cold water and man-overboard procedure, weather judgement.
- Maintenance: plumbing, pumps, feed lines, welding and gear repair, forklift and telehandler, generator operation.
- The realities to state honestly: 5 a.m. starts, tides and weather, weekend and bank holiday rotations, on call for oxygen alarms, lifting 25 kg feed bags repeatedly, and long stretches outdoors in cold and wet.
Certificates, training and education
Most aquaculture jobs are trained on site. What helps you get through the door is a short list of practical certificates and a willingness to learn the rest. Licences and consents for the farms themselves come from government and environmental regulators, and the rules differ between Scotland and the rest of the UK, so check them if you plan to start your own operation.
- Boating: RYA Powerboat Level 2 is the usual starting point for smaller workboats, and larger vessels may call for further RYA or MCA qualifications depending on the role. Say which boats you have run and in what water.
- Water safety: cold water immersion and man-overboard training, immersion suit drills, and swimming ability. Marine sites take this seriously.
- First aid: Emergency First Aid at Work or First Aid at Work is expected on remote sites. Add outdoor or marine first aid if you hold it.
- Forklift and telehandler: used constantly around feed, gear and harvest. Accredited certificates are what employers look for.
- HACCP: a Level 2 or Level 3 HACCP course, valuable for anyone near harvest, packing or processing.
- Diving: an HSE-recognised commercial diving qualification if you want net pen dive work, which is a specialised and better-paid track.
- Shellfish work: harvesting areas are officially classified and each batch moves with registration documents, so say you have kept them. Rules differ between Scotland and the rest of the UK, so name the system you worked under.
- Education: an HNC or HND in aquaculture, or a college course in fish husbandry, helps for technician and hatchery roles. Farm, boat and commercial fishing backgrounds are valued just as much for on-growing work.
Fish farm CV with no experience
- 1Lead with reliability and physical work. Farms hire people who show up at 5 a.m. in the rain more than they hire people with the perfect background.
- 2Put any water or outdoor work on the page: commercial fishing, creel boats, harbour work, marina jobs, construction, landscaping, farm work, outdoor instructing.
- 3List animal or lab work if you have it: veterinary practice, pet shop, teaching lab, water testing, even a well-kept home aquarium with the parameters you monitored.
- 4Get RYA Powerboat Level 2 and an Emergency First Aid at Work certificate before applying. Neither costs much and both appear in adverts.
- 5Say what you can lift and how long you can stay outside, with a real example from a past job.
- 6State your availability for weekend rotations and on-call work. Stock does not take days off and managers screen hard for this.
- 7Ask about the seasonal route in. Many farms hire heavily for harvest, smolt transfer or oyster season and keep the good people year-round.
- 8If you have a full driving licence, a powerboat certificate or a forklift ticket, put all three in the contact line.
Crew, inshore creel boat, 2 seasons: worked 12-hour days hauling and rebaiting 300 creels, handled ropes and hydraulics in open water, and kept catch records with no breaches.
Laboratory assistant, 1 year: ran daily water chemistry on 12 tanks including dissolved oxygen, ammonia and pH, calibrated meters weekly and logged every result in a shared sheet.
Format and matching the advert
- One page. These are practical jobs and managers read fast.
- Plain single-column, no photo and no date of birth. Larger seafood companies use applicant tracking software.
- Put your certificates in the contact line: powerboat, forklift, first aid, driving licence.
- Order: contact, personal statement, experience, skills, certificates, education. Add a one-line species and system list near the top if you have worked several.
- Mirror the advert: 'on-growing', 'smolt', 'broodstock', 'recirculating aquaculture system', 'sea pen', 'biosecurity', 'feed conversion', 'water quality', 'mortality', 'harvest'. Use their job title, whether that is fish farm technician, fish farm worker, hatchery technician or farm hand.
- Say whether you will relocate and whether you need housing. Many sites are remote and some provide accommodation, but they will not guess.
- If the work is seasonal, give your exact available dates near the top.
- Send a PDF named firstname-lastname-aquaculture-technician.pdf.
“Give me species, system and one production number, then tell me you can be on the boat at half five in February. Half the applications I get describe a love of marine life and never mention whether the person has been cold and wet for ten hours and come back the next day.”
Frequently asked questions
What should an aquaculture worker put on a CV?
Species and life stages handled, the system type (hatchery, recirculating, pond, sea pen, shellfish farm), stock scale in biomass or tank counts, production numbers like feed conversion and survival, your water quality and mortality record keeping, and practical certificates: powerboat, forklift, first aid.
What skills do you need for a fish farm job?
Feeding and feed rate calculation, water quality testing and corrective action, grading and live handling, mortality recording, biosecurity, pump and filter maintenance, boat handling on marine sites, and the physical stamina for early, cold, wet shifts on weekend rotations.
Can I get an aquaculture job with no experience?
Yes. Most farms train on site and hire on reliability. Put any outdoor, boat, farm or physical work on the page, add RYA Powerboat Level 2 and a first aid certificate, state your availability for weekends and on-call, and apply for seasonal roles around harvest or smolt transfer.
Do you need a degree to work in aquaculture?
Not for on-growing and farm hand roles. An HNC or HND in aquaculture, marine science or fisheries helps for hatchery and technician positions, where water chemistry and system management matter. Commercial fishing and farm backgrounds are valued heavily for site work.
How do I describe fish farm duties on a CV?
Give the stock number and the outcome. 'Ran 24 tanks and 6 raceways handling 1.1 million fish a year, with twice-daily water chemistry testing' says far more than 'cared for fish and maintained equipment'. Add production figures like feed conversion or survival wherever you know them.
What certificates help for an aquaculture worker CV?
RYA Powerboat Level 2, cold water and man-overboard training, first aid, forklift operation, and a recognised HACCP course. A commercial diving qualification opens up net pen dive work. Shellfish roles run on batch registration documents and hygiene rules, so show you have worked with them.
How long should an aquaculture CV be?
One page. Give your last two or three sites full bullets and compress older or seasonal jobs to a line each. If you have worked several species and systems, add a two-line species and system summary near the top so a manager can match you to the advert instantly.
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The builder suggests a summary from your own experience, then checks it against the job posting.
How this page was made: a first draft was written with AI assistance from cvplex's example library, then edited and fact-checked by the cvplex Careers Team. Examples are fictional composites; numbers are illustrative. Report an error via the editorial policy page.