Fish Plant Labourer – The tasks of Fish Plant Labourers involve most of the other jobs required at fish plants that do not involve cutting fish. These are tasks such as offloading fishing boats, weighing fish, placing packs in and out of freezers, stacking pallets, cleaning machinery, driving forklifts, loading/unloading refrigerated storerooms and loading/unloading trucks.
The HRDC lists description of the tasks in this job category can be found under Labourers in Fish Processing (#9618). See the information
at http://www.ns.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/english/lmi/occsums/occsum.asp?which=9618 (Be sure to follow the links on this web for the part of the province in which you are seeking a position. There is good information regarding average wages, number of usual openings and short-term outlook for jobs on these area-related pages.)
These categories describe the two main types of fish processing jobs in fish plants. There are a wide variety of other general industrial type jobs in most fish plants such as
- plant managers
- engineers/technical staff - stationery engineers, refrigeration technicians, electricians, maintenance staff,
- shipping/receiving/inventory staff, truck drivers,
- accounting, human resources, general office staff
- sales staff.
Many, mostly smaller fish plants do not separate job categories as specific as suggested here.
Most jobs in fish plants are paid hourly. HRDC reports that across the province labourers in fish plants make an average of $9.77 per hour with a low for entry level employees of $6.14 and a high for long-serving experienced employees of $15.90 per hour. Many of the jobs available are seasonal. The spring, summer and fall are the busiest times, though the season is dependent upon the species of fish processed in the plant. A few processing jobs are paid on a piece-work or performance basis whereby the worker gets paid a set rate for a certain number of fillets, pounds or maybe boxes processed.
In 1999 there were 3060 people employed on either a full or part time basis in these job categories, according to HRDC.
Statistics from NS Department of Agriculture and Fisheries show that in 1997 there were 5,600 people in Nova Scotia working in fish plants. This number is about the same as at the start of the 1990s, but lower than throughout most of the 1980s. It has increased from the lowest recent year of 4,800 plant employees in 1996. The chart below shows these numbers. For more information about employment trends and statistics see
NS Fish Plant Employment.xls (MS-Excel).
In 1999, there were approximately 300 fish plants licensed by the Nova Scotia Department of Fish and Aquaculture to process fish.
The Fishobs.ca Sector Information page on Fish Processing has information about the different kinds of fish plants you’ll find dotted around the Nova Scotia coast. Some plants specialize by particular species of seafood, though a large number of plants will process two or more species. Switching from one type of processing to another often follows a seasonal pattern according to the availability of different species. You could find yourself cutting groundfish one week and then popping herring roe the next, depending upon where you work. At some plants you’ll do the same work almost every day.
In a province with a large number of seafood species available some plants have become highly specialized. These plants are involved in secondary processing in which they add value to the seafood product. They will either purchase fillets or other already processed fish, or perhaps the first stage of processing will happen elsewhere in their plant. Then, the added value comes from other products made at the plants, such as
- breaded or battered fish products like fish and chips or fish fingers,
- frozen dinners for supermarkets such as cod or haddock in sauce, and
- marinated or pickled products like solomon gundy.
There are also a few highly technical or biotechnology oriented plants in Nova Scotia in which seafood products and extracts are being isolated for specific health, industrial or agricultural purposes. Two of these companies are Ocean Nutrition Canada and Acadian Seaplants. These operations are highly technical and employ more scientists, researchers and engineers than a regular fish plant.
FishJobs.ca has compiled lists of fish plants in Nova Scotia from a few sources. These lists cover almost all the plants in the province and provide a good indication of the names and addresses of fish plants in your area.
See NS Fish Plants.xls (MS-Excel) to download an Excel spreadsheet showing plants by company name, town/city or postal code.
See NS Fish Plant List.doc (MS-Excel) to download a Word file that lists the addresses of these plants by company name.
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