Canada’s Agri-Food sector, particularly meat and seafood processing, is a significant contributor to our nation’s economy, and was recently identified as one of Canada’s top growth industries over the next 10 years. Despite this, the sector continues to face a critical labour shortage that, if left unresolved, will impede the industry’s growth, employment opportunities, and overall sustainability.
To address this shortage, Food Processing Skills Canada (FPSC) has embarked upon a landmark Labour Market Information Study (LMI). In its finality, the LMI will provide government and decision-makers with the research needed to make real regulatory change that will bring both prosperity and opportunity to the meat and seafood processing sectors.
Taking the Pathway: Understanding Career Paths in Fish + Seafood Processing lays crucial groundwork for the LMI by defining occupations and career paths in the fish and seafood processing sector. Utilizing this data, the LMI will take in-depth reviews of each career path, and their specific challenges and opportunities.
This document provides practical information about the career paths available for workers in the fish and seafood processing industry. In a time when attraction and recruitment of workers is important to keep up with demand, the career pathway can be helpful to educate potential workers about the opportunities and career pathways within the sector. The career pathway is a helpful tool for employers to attract, recruit and retain productive and skilled workers.
To learn more about the career pathways in fish and seafood processing, we:
The career pathway for fish and seafood processing illustrates the progression of occupational levels from foundational skills to executive management. The career pathway is comprised of six (6) levels. The typical entry-point into the fish and seafood processing industry is at the Foundational Skill Level. With work experience and training (often offered on-the-job), workers often progress upward on the career ladder.
Foundational Skill Level positions are often the entry-level positions or those jobs that required no prior experience or training to work in a fish and seafood processing facility. A high school diploma or equivalent may be preferred, but is not required by most businesses. Training for foundational skill level jobs most often occurs on the job; job shadowing is important for these positions entry-level positions.
Applicable NOC Code(s)
NOC 9618 – Labourers in Fish and Seafood Processing
Sample Titles for Foundational Skill Level Jobs within the Fish and Seafood Processing Sector include:
Intermediate Skill Level workers typically have 6 months – 1 year of experience working in fish and seafood processing facilities. A high school diploma is often preferred, but may not be a requirement. Workers in this job class typically receive training on the job and also receive WHMIS, food safety and food safety management training. Workers who start in Foundational Skill Level Positions often progress into Intermediate Skill Level positions as they gain additional experience and training.
Applicable NOC Code(s)
NOC 9463 – Fish and Seafood Plant Workers
Sample Titles for Intermediate Skill Level Jobs within the Fish and Seafood Processing Sector include:
High Skill Level Workers typically have at least 1 year of experience (typically 1-3 years) in fish and seafood processing and are able to perform the range of tasks that are completed on the production/processing line. A high school diploma is considered an asset. Additional training related to supervising workers may be provided in-house. Workers receive WHMIS, food safety and food safety management system training. Workers in Intermediate Skill Level positions often advance to High Skill Level positions as they gain additional experience and training, particularly in fish processing which requires specialized cutting and filleting.
Applicable NOC Code(s)
NOC 9213 – Supervisors, Food and Beverage Processing
Sample Titles for High Skill Level Jobs within the Fish and Seafood Processing Sector include:
Supervisory Skill Level workers typically have 2-3 years of experience on the line of a fish and seafood processing facility. Additional training in relation to production management, supervising and employee management may be required and provided by the company. A high school diploma or equivalent is often required; additional post-secondary education is an asset. It is typical for supervisors to begin at the Foundational Skill Level, and through experience and additional training, supervisory roles. Supervisors must complete WHMIS, food safety and food safety management training.
Applicable NOC Code(s)
NOC 9213 – Supervisors, Food and Beverage and Associated Products Processing
Sample Titles for Supervisory Skill Level Jobs within the Fish and Seafood Processing Sector include:
Management Skill Level workers typically have a minimum of 5 years of supervisory experience within the fish and seafood processing industry. Leadership experience is considered an asset. A post-secondary education may be required or considered a strong asset. Additional training in management is often required of job incumbents. Managers require WHMIS, food safety and food safety management system training.
Applicable NOC Code(s)
NOC 0911 – Manufacturing Manager
Sample Titles for Management Skill Level Jobs within the Fish and Seafood Processing Sector include:
Senior Executive Leadership Skill Level workers typically have significant experience (e.g. 10+) years within the fish and seafood processing industry, or within other food and beverage processing facilities. They are responsible for managing corporate affairs and lead the strategic direction and vision of the overall organization. Skills in organizational management and business administration are critical.
Applicable NOC Code(s)
NOC 0016 – Senior Manager – construction, transportation, production, and utilities
NOC 0911 – Manufacturing Manager
Sample Titles for Senior Executive Leadership Skill Level Jobs within the Fish and Seafood Processing Sector include:
TITLE
EXPERIENCE / EDUCATION
SENIOR EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
MANAGEMENT
SUPERVISORY
HIGH-SKILLED
INTERMEDIATE
FOUNDATIONAL
The following graphic illustrates a typical career progression within the fish and seafood processing sector.
As the graphic illustrates, workers within High Skill Level occupations (such as Lead Hand) may move to the Quality Control/Quality Assurance Department and assume a role of Quality Control Inspector. This position is still a production/processing line position, but the Quality Control Inspector performs quality control tests and inspections on the processing line.
Our research helped to identify key issues and challenges that are unique to the fish and seafood processing sector:
Impact of Unionization on Occupational Levels
Unionization of workers (and collective agreements) have a significant impact on the division of labour (tasks often classified by rate groups) as well as the degree of worker mobility across functions and departments within a facility. Collective agreements tend to stipulate the duties that workers in specific rate groups can perform. Non-unionized job positions and non-unionized facilities appear to have more flexibility in regard to crosstraining workers and moving workers based on aptitudes, skills and personal competencies.
Focus of the Career Pathways
The Foundational, Intermediate and High Skill Level occupations are related to the handling and processing of the fish and seafood once it is landed. This analysis does not include occupations related to aquaculture (the farming aspect of the industry); harvesting; or further processing (such as canning, smoking, breading, etc.).
Facility Size Impacts Occupational Levels and Titles
Job titles are dependent upon the size of the organization. In larger organizations, job titles reflect more sub-divided and specific processes/tasks. In small operations, the titles tend to be more generic/broad and individuals perform numerous functions on an as-needed basis.
Physical Environment and Manual Labour Requirements are Significant
Fish and seafood processing requires a high degree of manual labour (in addition to automation). In addition to the physicality of the jobs, the environment is also a critical factor for these areas. Working with live product and the physical environment (e.g. cold, hot, wet, odorous, etc.) adds another layer of complexity to these jobs.
Differing Skill Requirements for Fish vs. Seafood Processing
Through the research it became apparent that there is more skill differentiation and development in fish processing facilities as compared to seafood processing facilities when it comes to cutting/filleting fish. There is more of a differential between Foundational, Intermediate and High Skill Level workers on the processing line within a fish processing facility than a seafood processing facility, mostly due to the knife skills required in fish processing.
For the purpose of the analysis, fish and seafood have been separated. While some facilities process seafood and ground-fish, a number of facilities only process one or the other. The separation of fish and seafood allows for an analysis of the specific titles and duties associated with both types of product.
Foundational & Intermediate Skill Level Jobs are In Demand & Hard to Fill
Foundational and Intermediate Skill Level employees make up a significant majority of plant workforces and are particularly hard to staff (based on research findings). Fish and seafood processing facilities are cold and wet environments which some workers find difficult.
The fish and seafood industry is seasonal, impacting the supply and demand of workers as well as worker retention. Processors have little control over seasonality or catches during these seasons and the duties and work hours required fluctuate as a result.
Variety of Species and Processes
Within the fish and seafood sector, there are a variety of species that are processed in different ways. This makes assigning specific job descriptions difficult and facility/product specific.
Therefore, Foundational Skill Level occupations have been assigned the Fish/ Seafood Plant Labourer title (under which multiple titles can fall depending upon the plant/species) and the
Intermediate Skill Level occupations have been assigned the Fish/Seafood Plant Worker title (under which multiple titles fall). Sample titles can be found in the detailed table in Appendix A.
Quality Control (QC) is a set of activities for ensuring quality in products. The activities focus on identifying defects in the actual products produced.
Quality Control aims to identify (and correct) defects in the finished product. QC, therefore, is a reactive process. The goal of QC is to identify defects after a product is developed and before it’s released.
Quality Control refers to quality related activities associated with the creation of project deliverables. QC is used to verify that deliverables are of acceptable quality and that they are complete and correct. Examples of QC activities include inspection, deliverable peer reviews and the testing process.
LEVEL/NOC
SAMPLE TITLES
DESCRIPTION / DUTIES
EXPERIENCE / EDUCATION
Senior Executive Leadership
NOC 0911 – Manufacturing Manager
Management Skill Level
NOC 0911 – Manufacturing Manager
Supervisory Skill Level
NOC 9213 – Supervisors, food, beverage and associated products processing
High Skill Level
NOC 9213 – Supervisors, food, beverage and associated products processing
Intermediate Skill Level
NOC 9463 – Fish and Seafood Plant Workers
Seafood Plant Worker
Sample Titles:
Seafood plant machine operators perform some or all of the following duties:
Intermediate Skill Level
NOC 9463 – Fish and Seafood Plant Workers
Fish Plant Worker
Sample Titles:
Fish machine operators perform some or all of the following duties:
Fish plant cutters and cleaners perform some or all of the following duties:
Foundational Skill Level
NOC 9618 – Labourers in Fish and Seafood Processing
Seafood Processing Labourer
Sample Titles:
Foundational
NOC 9618 – Labourers in Fish and Seafood Processing
Fish Processing
Labourer Sample Titles: