Also called: Fish Counting Technician, Fish Ladder Counter
Sits at a window beside a dam fish ladder and counts and identifies every salmon and steelhead swimming past.
At dams on the Columbia River, fish counters watch through an underwater viewing window or video feed, tapping a keypad for each Chinook, coho, sockeye, or lamprey. Their counts set fishing seasons and track endangered runs.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. On-the-job training in fish identification; biology coursework helps.
Ways in: On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Fisheries Technology (2-year), Biology.
Growing about average. Seasonal and limited to dams with fish ladders.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Video cameras with AI fish ID already count at many dams; few window-counter jobs remain by 2036.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply in winter for seasonal fish counter jobs at dams (Army Corps contractors, tribal fish agencies)
Classes: Biology, Environmental science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-4021.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.