Can a processor on a fishing vessel be promoted to deckhand?


fishing
. asked:


I’m a 16 year old dropout and I’ve been hired as a processor on a salmon fishing boat in Alaska. Do processors get promoted to deckhands, if not what do they get promoted to?

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 15th, 2009 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Boats & Boating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Can a processor on a fishing vessel be promoted to deckhand?”

  1. Charlie Bucket Says:
    February 19th, 2009 at 6:24 am

    Probably not. Deckhands need a lot of skills that a slime-line worker does not have. If you pay attention and express an interest in deckhand work, they might move you up to that position eventually, but on those boats, it’s all about putting in your time

  2. Dennis Says:
    February 21st, 2009 at 9:30 pm

    There is always a chance that a good worker in the processing area could get promoted to deckhand, but it is not likely. The other bad news is that the seatime you gain as a processor will not count towards an Able Seaman merchant mariner’s document either. Those type of jobs are really dead-end jobs.

    If you want to work on a ship I would suggest that you get an Ordinary Seaman’s card. There are plenty of tug and supply boat companies willing to hire entry level deckhands. The payrate is about $200 a day for 12-hour shifts and the seatime will count towards an Able Seaman’s Document. Once you get that then you can look at working on cargo ships and tankers and your payrate goes to over $250 a day.

    Check out this website for information on getting an OS document

  3. FILE Says:
    February 23rd, 2009 at 5:52 am

    Go back to school. See you are already smart enough to know you are at a deadend job. You could be Captain if you get an education. Go back to school while you are young or you will regret it the rest of you life. P.S. Alaska Salmon fishing is dangerous work, more so for a greenhorn processor.

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