Also called: Fish and Wildlife Technician, Electrofishing Technician
Collects fish data in the field, from netting and tagging fish to monitoring water quality.
You set gill nets at dawn, pull them up and measure every fish, clip fin samples for DNA, and record everything. Summers might mean counting salmon from a riverside tower in Alaska.
Biological technicians; often seasonal.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Associate's degree (2-year), about 2 years after high school. Associate or bachelor's in fisheries or biology; many seasonal positions.
Ways in: 2-year college, 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Fisheries Science, Biology, Natural Resources.
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years). Biological technicians.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Electronic tags and AI counts trim some work; netting, tagging and stream surveys stay hands-on.
Classes: Biology, Chemistry.
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.