Fishing and Hunting Workers
Scrub through 336 years of this role's history, from when it first emerged, through every wave of technology that reshaped it, to the cited forecasts for where it's heading next.
The tools that defined the work
Select an era to see how it reshaped the work.
Sailing schooners, dories and baited hand lines
Before steam trawling, New England groundfish were caught only with baited lines worked from sailing schooners and the small dories they carried. Fleets sailed from Gloucester and Boston to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, and with no refrigeration most of the cod was salted at sea. Nearly 400 schooners worked out of each of those ports, supporting salt importers, ice harvesters and the Essex River shipyards.
Steam trawlers and the otter trawl
Steam-powered trawlers, introduced from England in 1906, rapidly replaced the schooner fleets and changed how fishing crews lived and worked. Cold storage and the frozen fillet moved the industry from salt cod to fresh haddock. By 1930 scientists warned the fleet had grown too efficient for the fish: that year Boston landed 37 million haddock while another 70 to 90 million young haddock were discarded dead at sea. The first minimum mesh-size rules for trawl nets did not come until 1953.
Nylon nets, the power block, radar and sonar
After the war, electronics and new materials changed the work on deck. In a NMFS study of the San Pedro, California purse-seine fleet, Eric Knaggs judged nylon netting and the hydraulic Puretic power block the two most important gear changes; by 1961 almost all purse seines were nylon, which lasted 4 or 5 years where a cotton net lost half its webbing each year. Only 3 seiners had radar in 1951; by 1972 all but 5 boats did, and 15 boats were operating sonar, up from one installation in 1969. This is one fleet's record, used here as a documented example of the national shift.
Effect on the workIn the same fleet, unloading fish with a pump took 2 or 3 men instead of the 5 or 6 needed with the older brail, although most fishermen had not adopted the pump by 1972 (NMFS cooperative study).
The 200-mile limit pushes out foreign fleets
From 1965 to 1975, foreign factory trawlers anchored just beyond the 3-mile limit caught more fish in US waters than American fishermen did. On April 13, 1976, Congress passed what is now the Magnuson-Stevens Act, creating a 200-mile fishery zone and regional management councils. As the foreign fleets left, American fishermen moved in, many buying larger, more advanced boats with help from federal loan programs, and soon too many boats were chasing too few fish.
Effect on the workIn New England, new boats entered the groundfish fishery at about one every four days in late 1977, and fleet effort built up quickly from 1977 to 1985 (NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center).
Satellite vessel monitoring systems
In 1994 every boat in Hawaii's longline fleet was required to carry a satellite vessel monitoring unit, letting the Coast Guard see where any vessel was at any moment and whether it was fishing in closed waters. Today NOAA's vessel monitoring system tracks more than 4,000 vessels, the largest national fleet under such monitoring in the world. A fisher's position, not just the catch, became part of the regulated record.
Catch shares and individual fishing quotas
Catch shares give individuals, cooperatives or communities a fixed portion of the allowed catch, ending the race to fish. In the Alaska halibut and sablefish individual fishing quota program, begun in 1995, the halibut season stretched from a "race for fish" of a few days to 8 months, so more of the catch could be sold fresh. NOAA now runs 17 catch share programs across the country.
Effect on the workFrom 1995 through 2001, the number of halibut quota holders fell by about 27 percent and sablefish quota holders by about 15 percent as holdings consolidated (GAO). This counts quota holders, not crew jobs.
Electronic monitoring cameras and AI-assisted catch review
In 2015 every boat in the US Atlantic longline fleet was equipped with a video monitoring system that records the catch, a milestone for electronic monitoring in US fisheries. Because a single fishing trip can generate more than 2 terabytes of video, NOAA-funded software now counts the fish caught and identifies the species, flagging footage for human reviewers.
Published forecasts and AI exposure research
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, we show the disagreement rather than an average.
What's shifting in the work right now
The historical view above shows how this role has moved. This is the present-day detail: which AI tools are picking up which tasks, where the edge still is, and the natural directions this work can grow.
What's changing in your day
Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.
AI is sitting alongside you hereSteer vessels and operate navigational instruments.
Steer vessels and operate navigational instruments.[2]
AI is sitting alongside you hereRemove catches from fishing equipment and measure them to ensure compliance with legal size.
Remove catches from fishing equipment and measure them to ensure compliance with legal size.[2]
AI is sitting alongside you hereDirect fishing or hunting operations, and supervise crew members.
Direct fishing or hunting operations, and supervise crew members.[2]
See the same long-arc view for your own profession.
Browse the directory by industry, or search by title or SOC code. New roles ship every few weeks. Every profile cites every claim.
Browse all rolesThe data behind this timeline
View all 12 cited data points
| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1870 | 27,871 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1880 | 41,352 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1890 | 60,162 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1900 | 69,000 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1910 | 68,000 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1920 | 53,000 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1930 | 73,000 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1940 | 64,000 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1950 | 75,000 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1960 | 41,000 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 1970 | 31,000 | n/a | Decennial Census |
| 2025 | 28,200 | n/a | BLS Employment Projections |