How to Become a Commercial Fisherman in Canada

Q: Do I need to register with DFO before I can work as a deckhand?

In most of Atlantic Canada, yes -- the Atlantic Fishery Regulations generally require anyone fishing commercially to hold a fisher's registration card, though in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec that registration runs through a provincial certification board instead of DFO directly. Confirm the exact requirement for your province and fishery with DFO or your hiring captain.

Q: Do I need to own or lease a licence to work as a deckhand?

No -- the fishing licence belongs to the boat's owner-operator or leaseholder, not to individual crew. A deckhand needs the safety certificate and registration covered above, not a fishing licence of their own.

There’s no degree or single licence that makes someone a commercial fisherman. The realistic path is: get hired as a deckhand, get the required Transport Canada safety certificate, register as a fish harvester where required, and build years of deck time before running your own boat.

Start as a deckhand, not a licence holder

Almost nobody starts by owning or leasing a fishing licence. The entry point is a deckhand or bait-boy role on someone else’s boat, and hiring for those spots mostly still happens the old way: showing up at the wharf in the weeks before a season opens and asking captains directly if they need a hand. There’s no central job board most crews use, though general job sites occasionally list deckhand postings. See our crews guide for who’s actually on a typical crew, what captains look for in a first-time hire, and what a first season is like.

Get the certificate that lets you legally work on a boat

Before anyone can legally crew a commercial fishing vessel, Transport Canada requires an entry-level marine safety ticket — generally MED-DVS (Marine Emergency Duties: Domestic Vessel Safety), or the shorter SDV-BS (Small Domestic Vessel: Basic Safety) on very small vessels. This is separate from, and far more basic than, the Fishing Master certificates (Fourth Class through First Class), which are for running the boat as captain or officer in charge of watch, not for an entry-level deckhand. Our tickets page has the full certificate matrix — cost, duration, and who issues each one — sourced and checked.

Register as a fish harvester with DFO (or your province)

Most people skip this step entirely when they picture “becoming a fisherman,” but it’s a real legal requirement in most of Atlantic Canada. Under the Atlantic Fishery Regulations, anyone fishing a Schedule I species commercially generally has to hold a fisher’s registration card (FRC) — proof of registration issued once the Department confirms someone is registered (DFO, “Fish Harvester Registration Regulatory Amendment Consultations,” accessed 2026-09-13). Where you actually register depends on where you fish: in Newfoundland and Labrador (since 1997) and Quebec (since 1999), registration runs through a provincial certification board instead of directly through DFO; in the rest of Atlantic Canada, DFO handles registration itself. BC/Pacific fisheries run their own separate licensing and registration system through DFO’s Pacific Region. Ask the captain you’re crewing for, or contact DFO’s regional licensing office directly, to confirm exactly what applies to the boat and area you’re working in — this page isn’t a substitute for that.

Building toward a licence of your own

Deck time is what actually builds toward running or owning a boat — most crew who eventually captain a boat spend years working up through more senior deckhand roles first. See our From Sternman to Captain guide for how that progression typically works, and our licence cost hub for what buying into a fishery actually costs once you’re ready to consider it.

FAQ

How to become a commercial fisherman? Get hired as a deckhand (usually by asking at the wharf directly), get the Transport Canada MED-DVS or SDV-BS safety ticket, register as a fish harvester with DFO or your province’s certification board where required, and build deck experience over multiple seasons before considering a move toward captaining or owning a licence.

What is the current job market like for commercial fishermen in America? This site covers the Canadian fishing industry only, and US labour market conditions, agencies, and licensing don’t apply here. If you’re looking to get into fishing in Canada, see “Start as a deckhand” above for the realistic entry point.

Do I need to register with DFO before I can work as a deckhand? In most of Atlantic Canada, yes — the Atlantic Fishery Regulations generally require anyone fishing commercially to hold a fisher’s registration card, though in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec that registration runs through a provincial certification board instead of DFO directly. Confirm the exact requirement for your province and fishery with DFO or your hiring captain.

Do I need to own or lease a licence to work as a deckhand? No — the fishing licence belongs to the boat’s owner-operator or leaseholder, not to individual crew. A deckhand needs the safety certificate and registration covered above, not a fishing licence of their own.

How soon can I actually start working on a boat? Some new deckhands get their first season within weeks of asking around the wharf and getting their entry-level safety ticket, though it depends entirely on local hiring and whether captains are looking for crew that season. Running or owning a boat is a much longer timeline — see our sternman-to-captain guide for that realistic estimate.

Some workers use off-shift downtime for regulated online gambling. If that’s you, only ever use operators registered for your own province — our comparison page by province covers registered options by criteria like licensing and Interac support, off-shift only, and never on a boat’s or company’s network or devices.