The fishery field of the Specified Skilled Worker programme covers two streams: fishing and aquaculture. They are tested separately and they are not similar jobs.
Fishing
Work aboard vessels: preparing and handling gear, operating fishing equipment, sorting and handling the catch, and maintaining the vessel.
The defining features are the hours and the isolation. Trips run to the rhythm of the season and the weather, not the calendar, and you will be working in close quarters with a small crew for extended periods.
Physically hard, weather-dependent, and not suited to everyone. Those who like it tend to like it a great deal.
Aquaculture
Work at fish and shellfish farms: feeding, monitoring water quality and stock health, maintaining nets and cages, harvesting and grading.
More routine than fishing, land-based or near-shore, with more predictable hours. Still early starts and still outdoors in winter.
What you need
- Language: JFT-Basic or JLPT N4 or above. JFT-Basic or JLPT.
- Skills: the fishery evaluation test for your stream - fishing or aquaculture.
Details of the test structure are in the skills test explained.
The Japanese that matters here
Safety Japanese, above all. Deck work and boat work are among the more hazardous SSW environments, and instructions are shouted over noise and weather.
Two practical priorities:
- Listening for instructions and negatives - “do not”, “not yet”, “wait” - which is exactly what the listening section tests: the listening section.
- Safety vocabulary before you arrive rather than after: safety vocabulary.
Where the work is
Coastal Japan, in smaller towns and ports rather than cities. This has real consequences worth thinking about in advance:
- Housing is usually cheaper and often arranged by the employer - housing and rent.
- Communities are smaller, which cuts both ways: more integration, fewer countrymen.
- Access to Japanese classes is thinner, so plan to study online - online versus in-person classes.
Conditions to check carefully
Pay must equal that of a Japanese national in the same role, but the structure varies in this sector - some vessel work includes catch-based components. Read the contract with care: the contract checklist and salary and deductions.
Ask specifically how time at sea is counted, what happens in bad weather, and what accommodation is provided and at what cost.
First step
The language test gates everything else, and it is the part that is entirely in your hands today. Our free exam demo is a full JFT-Basic mock under exam conditions.