How to become an Aquatic Animal Hatchery Worker
Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 水生动物苗种繁育工
Also called: Marine Fish Hatchery Worker, Freshwater Fish Hatchery Worker, Live Feed Culturist, Reptile Breeder, Sea Cucumber and Urchin Breeder, Amphibian Breeder, Shellfish Hatchery Worker, Crustacean Hatchery Worker
Raises breeding stock of aquatic animals and breeds young fish and shellfish with spawning, hatching and rearing facilities and tools.
Main tasks
- Checking, servicing and disinfecting hatchery facilities and tools
- Choosing, transporting and conditioning breeding stock and reserve breeders
- Selecting and catching breeding stock with nets and injecting spawning hormones
- Stripping eggs by hand and fertilising them
- Hatching fertilised eggs while controlling water temperature and flow with hatching equipment
- Feeding, fertilising and managing water quality in rearing tanks to grow the young
- Adjusting water quality and light to grow live feed for the young
- Watching the young develop and preventing common diseases
- Selecting and acclimatising young stock, harvesting, counting and packing them
Ways in
- Vocational majors: Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Aquaculture Technology (410401). Vocational major 410401 Aquaculture Technology (水产养殖技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向). Example certificates: Licensed Veterinarian.
AI and this job
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Who does this work
- The census group Fishery Production Workers holds 0.37% of everyone employed in China; 26% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
- 15.7% are under 35, 53.5% are 35 to 54 and 30.8% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 45 to 49.
- Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.
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Questions people ask
How do I become an Aquatic Animal Hatchery Worker?
Ways in include: Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Aquaculture Technology (410401).
Will AI change the work of an Aquatic Animal Hatchery Worker?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.
Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.
Updated 4 October 2026