Mostly Resilient
Last Update: 8/30/2026
AI Resilience Score for Fishing & Hunting Workers:
53.0%
Median Score
Meaningful human contribution
Measures the parts of the occupation that still require a human touch. This score averages data from up to four AI exposure datasets, focusing on the role’s resilience against automation.
High
Long-term employer demand
Predicts the health of the job market for this role through 2034. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it balances projected annual job openings (60%) with overall employment growth (40%).
Low
Sustained economic opportunity
Measures future earning potential and career flexibility. This score is a blend of total projected labor income (67%) and the role’s inherent ability to adapt to economic and technological shifts (33%).
N/A
This reflects the reliability of your score based on the number of data sources available for this career and how closely those sources agree on the outlook. A higher confidence means more consistent evidence from labor experts and AI models.
Limited data sources are available, or existing sources show notable disagreement on the outlook for this occupation.
Contributing sources
AI Resilience Report forFishing and Hunting Workers
N/A median salary•3,300 annual openings•SOC Code: 45-3031.00
Fishing and Hunting Workers are somewhat more resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 5 sources.
Fishing and hunting work earns a "Mostly Resilient" label because the core of the job, things like steering a boat through rough weather, reading animal signs, hauling nets, and making quick safety calls, requires physical skill and real-world judgment that AI simply cannot replicate. AI tools are stepping in as helpful teammates rather than replacements, boosting things like catch monitoring, supply chain tracking, and wildlife data analysis, but a computer cannot bait a trap or navigate a remote waterway for you.
Learn more about how you can thrive in this position
View analysis
Chat with Coach
Latest news
More career infoAnalysisChatNewsMoreThis role is mostly resilient
Fishing and hunting work earns a "Mostly Resilient" label because the core of the job, things like steering a boat through rough weather, reading animal signs, hauling nets, and making quick safety calls, requires physical skill and real-world judgment that AI simply cannot replicate. AI tools are stepping in as helpful teammates rather than replacements, boosting things like catch monitoring, supply chain tracking, and wildlife data analysis, but a computer cannot bait a trap or navigate a remote waterway for you.
Read full analysisLearn more about how you can thrive in this position
View analysisChat with CoachLatest newsMore career infoAnalysisChatNewsMoreAnalysis of Current AI Resilience
Fishing & Hunting Workers
Updated Quarterly
How is AI changing Fishing & Hunting Workers jobs?
Right now, AI in fishing and hunting is mostly augmenting workers rather than replacing them. On commercial boats, one of the biggest changes is AI-assisted monitoring: a NOAA-funded company built software called Catchvision that reviews the huge amount of video from onboard cameras, saving up to 80% of the time spent reviewing electronic monitoring footage while counting fish and identifying species. Fishermen are also being pitched AI as a way to boost their income — new platforms use smartphone apps, biometric scanners, and AI to track seafood through the supply chain, verify sustainability, and share premium prices with the people who caught the fish.
Meanwhile, groups like Global Fishing Watch are using satellite imagery to process roughly 2 million square kilometers of ocean per day [1], spotting illegal fishing that affects legal fishers' livelihoods.
For hunters and trappers, AI is showing up in gear more than in the field itself. Peer-reviewed research describes how camera traps, acoustic sensors, drones and open-source AI platforms are being deployed to detect and disrupt illegal wildlife harvest [2], and university researchers report that AI now cuts wildlife tracking analysis from months down to days [3]. The physical work — steering a boat in a storm, reading animal signs, baiting a trap, hauling nets — still depends heavily on human judgment and hands-on skill.
Sources
How fast is AI adoption growing for Fishing & Hunting Workers?
Adoption is likely to stay gradual. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that AI is expected to primarily affect occupations whose core tasks can be most easily replicated by generative AI [4] — and most fishing/hunting tasks (weather judgment, gear repair, physically reaching remote areas) don't fit that description. Boats are expensive, margins are tight, and adding cameras or AI software has to pay for itself, which is why federally subsidized pilots like the NOAA SBIR program that helped bring Catchvision to market [5] matter so much.
Regulation is another accelerator: fishery managers want cheaper, more accurate catch data, so AI-assisted monitoring gets pushed forward.
For hunting, adoption faces cultural pushback. A 2026 industry piece notes that state agencies have already banned or restricted real-time cellular trail cameras during hunting season, with more expected in 2027 [6], reflecting "fair chase" ethics that limit how far AI can go. The good news for young people curious about this career: skills like reading the water, handling equipment, respecting wildlife, and making split-second safety calls remain deeply human — AI is becoming a helpful teammate on deck and in the field, not a replacement for the person doing the work.
Sources
Will AI replace Fishing & Hunting Workers?
No. We don't think AI will replace Fishing and Hunting Workers, though we do expect the job to change.
Our 53.0% AI Resilience Score reflects a career that holds up well against automation, and the reasoning is pretty straightforward: most of what these workers actually do is hard to replicate. Steering a boat through rough weather, reading animal signs, hauling nets, and making split-second safety calls are deeply physical and situational skills. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that AI most easily affects jobs whose core tasks can be replicated by generative AI [4], and fishing and hunting tasks largely don't fit that description.
What AI is doing right now is more like adding a capable deckhand than replacing the captain. Software like Catchvision, developed with federal support, cuts the time spent reviewing onboard monitoring footage significantly [5]. Global Fishing Watch processes roughly 2 million square kilometers of ocean per day to flag illegal fishing that hurts legal workers [1]. In hunting, AI tools are helping with wildlife tracking analysis, but cultural guardrails matter too: many states have already banned real-time AI-assisted trail cameras during hunting season [6].
The job market picture is worth noting honestly. Long-term employer demand scores low, so this field has real headwinds beyond AI. Still, the human core of the work remains intact.
Sources
Help us improve this report.
Tell us if this analysis feels accurate or we missed something.
Share your feedback
Latest AI news for Fishing & Hunting Workers
These articles highlight the unique resilience of Fishing and Hunting Workers in the face of AI advancements. While some tasks, like checking catch measurements, may become automated, the core of fieldwork remains largely safe from AI for over 15 years. For instance, one article notes that fishing and hunting workers face only a 27/100 risk of automation, indicating a stable job outlook. Understanding how to leverage technology without losing the human touch is key for future professionals in this field.
Will AI Replace Fishing and Hunting Workers? 2026 Risk Report
dontgodinosaur.com • 8/20/2026
? AI is changing how fishing and hunting workers work day to day. 60% of current fishing and hunting workers tasks are automatable with existing AI tools … ...
Will AI Replace Fishing and Hunting Workers?
willrobotstakemyjob.com • 8/20/2026
Explore the automation risk for Fishing and Hunting Workers. See how AI could affect this career, including pay, outlook, and safer alternatives.
Fishing & Hunting Workers AI Risk - AI Job Checker
www.aijobchecker.com • 8/20/2026
Fishing & Hunting Workers score 27/100 on AI risk. Regulatory documentation faces 82% automation risk. Physical fieldwork resists AI for 15+ years.
Fishing and Hunting Workers: AI Job Risk & Exposure
aijobriskcheck.com • 8/20/2026
Jul 31, 2026 — Fishing and hunting workers currently face minimal AI exposure. A few administrative edges, like checking catch measurements against regulations ... Read more
Ain’t nothing like the real thing: Officials warn against using AI for hunting regs
www.spokesman.com • 10/26/2025
There is at least one thing artificial intelligence is not ready to replace. The humble hunting regulation booklet.
More Career Info
Career: Fishing and Hunting Workers
They catch fish and hunt animals to provide food or materials, using gear like nets, traps, and guns, often working outdoors in various weather conditions.
Parent Careers
Employment & Wage Data
Jobs (2025)
28,200
Growth (2025-35)
-4.2%
Annual Openings
3,300
Education
No formal educational credential
Experience
None
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025-2035
Task-Level AI Resilience Scores
AI-generated estimates of task resilience over the next 3 years
1
Travel on foot, by vehicle, or by equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas.
2
Skin quarry, using knives, and stretch pelts on frames to be cured.
3
Kill or stun trapped quarry, using clubs, poisons, guns, or drowning methods.
4
Scrape fat, blubber, or flesh from skin sides of pelts with knives or hand scrapers.
5
Select, bait, and set traps, and lay poison along trails, according to species, size, habits, and environs of birds or animals and reasons for trapping them.
6
Maintain and repair trapping equipment.
7
Maintain engines, fishing gear, and other on-board equipment and perform minor repairs.
Tasks are ranked by their AI resilience, with the most resilient tasks shown first. Core tasks are essential functions of this occupation, while supplemental tasks provide additional context.
