Commercial Fisherman Resume Examples & Writing Guide

One page for a deckhand with seven years and about twelve seasons in Alaska longline and salmon fisheries. The person and the boats are invented. Notice that each job names the vessel length, the gear, the fishery and the crew size, and that the safety cards sit right under the name where a skipper can find them in two seconds.

Most crew jobs are still filled on the dock, by phone or through a fleet manager, and the resume is what gets you into that conversation. A skipper is deciding whether you are worth a bunk, a share and the risk of a stranger on his deck.

• Seasons finished, not years employed. "4 Bristol Bay seasons, all completed" beats "3 years fishing experience". Say if you were asked back.
• The gear and the fishery. Longline, seine, gillnet, pot, trawl and tendering are different jobs with different deck skills. Name the ones you have worked and be honest about the ones you have not.
• Boat size and crew size. A 32 ft two-hand gillnetter and a 120 ft crabber teach different things. Give the length and the crew number for each vessel.
• Cards and paperwork. TWIC, drill conductor, first aid and CPR, drug test consortium enrollment, a state crew license, and an MMC with STCW basic training if you have one.
• References. Two skippers with phone numbers is worth more than any wording on the page. Get permission first and say "references from previous skippers on request" if you would rather not print numbers.

“The resume tells me two things: has he done this gear before, and did he finish. Everything else I can teach in a week. What I cannot fix is somebody who walks off in the middle of a run, so the crew who list every season they completed and give me a skipper to call go straight to the top of the list.”

Requirements vary by fishery, vessel size and how far offshore the boat works, so list what you hold and check the specific boat's requirements rather than guessing. These are the lines skippers look for.

• TWIC is issued by the TSA and is the card most often asked for, because it covers access to secure port areas.
• Documented commercial fishing vessels operating beyond the boundary line have to carry a certified drill conductor and run regular safety drills, so being that person makes you more useful to a small crew.
• A Merchant Mariner Credential is not required for every fishing job, but it opens tendering, processing vessel and deck officer work, and it is worth starting on if you plan to stay in the industry.
• If you want to run a boat one day, the license path is a Coast Guard operator or master credential with documented sea service days, so start logging your sea time now with dates, vessel names and official numbers.

Three or four lines at the top. Seasons, fisheries, gear, cards, and the fact that you finish what you sign for.

The trick is to write what a skipper can picture. Gear, quantity, conditions and outcome.

Nobody expects a greenhorn to know the gear. They expect you to be strong, cheerful at hour sixteen, sober, and still there in September. Build the page around evidence of that.

1. 1Header with your phone, email and the words "available for the full season" plus the dates you can commit to.
2. 2A two-line objective naming the fishery and the port you are aiming for, not just "a fishing job".
3. 3Any card you already have or have applied for: TWIC, first aid and CPR, a food handler card, a driver's license.
4. 4Physical work history with numbers: construction, landscaping, farm work, warehouse, kitchen line, military service. Hours per shift, weight handled, weather worked in, attendance record.
5. 5Relevant hands-on experience even if it was unpaid: sport fishing, boat maintenance, small engine repair, welding, sewing or net work, swimming ability.
6. 6One honest line about what you do not know yet, plus what you will do about it. Skippers respect it and it saves everyone a wasted trip.

• One page, plain black type, no photo. Print it as well as emailing it, because half the hiring still happens face to face on the dock.
• Put your cards in the contact block under your name. On a fishing resume they matter more than a summary sentence.
• Give a phone number you will answer and a backup contact, because a berth can open the night before a boat sails.
• List vessels as F/V name, length, gear and fishery. Official numbers are not needed on the resume, but keep them in your sea service log.
• Say what you can commit to: full season, specific dates, willingness to relocate, and whether you have a passport for boats that cross a border.
• In the UK and Ireland this document is called a CV and the job is often listed as fisher or share fisherman. For US boats, keep the US format on this page.
• Keep a separate sea service record with vessel names, official numbers, dates and days underway. You will need it if you ever apply for a Coast Guard credential.