Alaska offers the determined job seeker plenty of opportunities to make a lot of money in various industries including ice road trucking, king crab fishing, working at national parks, and of course working on commercial fishing vessels. The life on board a fishing boat in the Arctic is not the easiest one and besides being very dangerous, can include long, weary hours of work. According to one seasoned fisherman, you can sometimes work for 15 or 16 hours a day, and the pay varies according to what you catch that day, being commission based. Whilst some days bring in about $800 for a deckhand, other particularly bad days can earn you as little as a few cents.
Working in Alaska on a fishing vessel allows you to see and experience a different part of the world, and you can learn a lot from a deckhand job, or a skiff job. Each fishing exploration job is different within a typical 12 week season, with salmon fishing being one of the best paying and the most sought after for jobs. In a 12 week season, there are “mini seasons” called openings. These are the 12 legal hours of continuous fishing that a commercial fishing vessel is allowed at a time.
Usually, however, working on a fishing vessel means that you start your day 2 or 3 hours before the opening, stocking the boat with ice for the catch, preparing the nets, and making sure that the vessel is in tip top shape. After an opening, you will still work for another few hours unpacking the fish that you have caught. Most commercial fisherman work for 3 or 4 days a week, and normally work their shift without lunch breaks, because there is so much to do. The life of a fisherman in Alaska is not an easy one, but it can bring in a lot of money, so if you are the adventurous type who wants to travel and earn a great salary, commercial fishing might be the way to go. If you want to find out more about the commercial fishing industry in Alaska and other kinds of Alaskan jobs, just have a look at Alaska Job Finder. Once you become a member you can easily apply for the current commercial fishing jobs that are available.
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