Commercial Fisherman CV Examples & Writing Guide

One page for a deckhand with seven years across North Sea whitefish trawling, inshore creel fishing and pelagic summer seasons. 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 training sits right under the name where a skipper can find it in two seconds.

Most crew jobs are still filled on the quay, by phone or through word of mouth between skippers, and the CV 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.

• Time on each boat and seasons finished, not just years. "4 summer creel seasons on the same boat, all completed" beats "3 years fishing experience". Say if you were asked back.
• The gear and the fishery. Demersal trawl, pelagic trawl, scallop dredge, beam trawl, creels and static nets 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 10 m two-handed creel boat and a 65 m pelagic trawler teach different things. Give the length and the crew number for each vessel.
• Certificates and paperwork. The four Seafish mandatory safety courses, a seafarer medical, first aid, a VHF radio certificate, and STCW Basic Training or an MCA fishing certificate if you have one.
• References. Two skippers with phone numbers are worth more than any wording on the page. Get permission first and say "references from previous skippers available on request" if you would rather not print numbers.

“The CV 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 vessel size, fishery 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.

• Seafish runs the four mandatory one-day safety courses every new fisher needs (sea survival, first aid, fire fighting and prevention, safety awareness), and skippers expect at least Sea Survival done before you first sail.
• Every fishing vessel has to run regular safety drills, so being the crew member who organises them and keeps the records makes you more useful to a small crew.
• STCW Basic Training is not required for every fishing job, but it opens up fish farm workboats, guard and standby vessels and merchant deck work, and it is worth starting on if you plan to stay at sea.
• If you want to skipper a boat one day, the route is the MCA fishing certificates of competency, built on documented sea service, so start logging your sea time now with dates, vessel names and port letters and numbers (for example PD 123).

Three or four lines at the top. Seasons or years per boat, fisheries, gear, certificates, and the fact that you finish what you sign on for.

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

Nobody expects a new entrant to know the gear. They expect you to be strong, cheerful at hour sixteen, sober, and still there after the first winter. Build the page around evidence of that.

1. 1Header with your mobile, email and the words "available to start now" plus how long you can commit to.
2. 2A two-line career objective naming the type of boat and the port you are aiming for, not just "a fishing job".
3. 3Any certificate you already have or have booked: the Seafish safety courses, first aid, a food hygiene certificate, a driving licence.
4. 4Physical work history with numbers: construction, landscaping, farm work, warehouse, kitchen, Armed Forces service. Hours per shift, weight handled, weather worked in, attendance record.
5. 5Relevant hands-on experience even if it was unpaid: sea angling, boat maintenance, small engine repair, welding, net or rope 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 quay.
• Put your certificates in the contact block under your name. On a fishing CV they matter more than a personal statement sentence.
• Give a mobile number you will answer and a backup contact, because a berth can open the night before a boat sails.
• List vessels as FV name, length, gear and fishery. Port letters and numbers are not needed on the CV, but keep them in your sea service record.
• Say what you can commit to: start date, how long, willingness to relocate to another port, and whether you have a passport for boats that land abroad.
• In the US this document is called a resume and the job is usually listed as commercial fisherman or deckhand, with different permits. On this page everything follows UK practice.
• Keep a separate sea service record with vessel names, port numbers, dates and days at sea, plus testimonials from each skipper. You will need it if you ever apply for an MCA fishing certificate.