85102 – Aquaculture and marine harvest labourers
Lead statement
Aquaculture and marine harvest labourers include aquaculture support workers, marine plant gatherers, shellfish diggers and other labourers in aquaculture and fishing.
Main duties
- Assist aquaculture technicians in the operation of fish hatcheries or other aquatic farms
- Feed aquaculture stocks, vaccinate stocks, perform culling and marking or banding techniques and report any observed irregularities in stocks
- Operate, maintain and clean pumps, filters, tanks and other aquaculture equipment and clean and maintain aquaculture enclosures
- Keep daily records of water flow and fish, shellfish and marine plant samples
- Grade and weigh aquaculture stocks
- Prepare aquaculture stocks for market
- Rake seaweed, dulse or Irish moss from beach, rocks or shallow water and load into a cart, wagon or other receptacles
- Spread gatherings to dry and remove foreign objects
- Transport gatherings to processing plant
- Dig clams from beds with spades, forks or other instruments, or collect other mollusks
- Clean, sort and transport mollusks to market
- May operate boats for aquaculture operations.
Employment requirements
- Some secondary school education is usually required.
- Shellfish harvesters require commercial fishing licences.
- Marine Emergency Duties certificate may be required for some occupations in this unit group.
Example job titles
aquaculture support worker · aquaculture worker · lobster pound attendant · clam digger · quahog digger · dulse gatherer · fish farm helper · fish farm worker · fish hatchery attendant · fish hatchery tagger · fish hatchery worker · hatchery worker - aquaculture · fish tagger · mussel farm labourer · fry marker · fry marker - fishing · hatchery helper - aquaculture · Irish moss gatherer · marine plant gatherer · mussel harvester · oyster picker · oyster harvester · oyster picker-shucker · sea farm attendant · sea farm worker · seaweed gatherer · shellfish bed attendant · shellfish harvester · fry tagger
Wages (per hour)
| Province / territory | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | $17.00 | $22.00 | $36.06 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $17.00 | $25.35 | $36.06 |
| Nova Scotia | $16.50 | $21.15 | $35.00 |
| New Brunswick | $17.00 | $20.00 | $35.00 |
| Quebec | $19.77 | $23.32 | $32.62 |
| British Columbia | $20.00 | $30.00 | $39.56 |
Source: Job Bank wages, 2025 release (ESDC). Low and high are the 10th and 90th percentiles.
Occupation details: ESDC OaSIS 2025, based on NOC 2021.