What you need to perform it
Primary qualification
- Food-industry training: Higher Technician in Food Industry Processes and Quality (RD 451/2010 — indicative) or accredited equivalent experience in fish processing.
- HACCP system on board per Regulations (EC) 852/2004 and 853/2004 (hygiene and products of animal origin, including factory and freezer vessels).
- Sign-on: Basic Safety Training, ISM medical and food-handler accreditation per company programme.
Basic STCW
- Basic Safety Training applicable to boarding
Specific courses
- Advanced HACCP and quality audits (IFS/BRC as market reference — indicative)
- Industrial refrigeration: tunnels, brine and ammonia (NH3) safety
- Traceability and fisheries control: e-logbook, sales notes and Reg. (EC) 1224/2009
- Allergens and labelling (Reg. (EU) 1169/2011)
Indicative experience
Indicative: 3-5 years on fish processing lines (sea or shore), with at least one full campaign as factory second before taking charge on large freezer trawlers or tuna vessels.
Observations
An industrial billet afloat with no dedicated STCW certificate: commands the factory, not the navigation. Yield per species and command of brine/tunnel freezing define professional standing; on freezer tuna vessels the factory manager is key to settling the trip.
What this role does
Responsible for turning the catch into sellable product: runs the factory ship's processing line —grading, gutting, filleting, freezing and boxing—, organises factory crew shifts, controls yields and grades, and answers for the cold chain and the traceability of every batch through to discharge.
Typical watches
- Production shifts linked to the capture rate
Key responsibilities
- Direct the processing of fish on board: cleaning, cutting, classification and freezing.
- Control performance, traceability, hygiene and quality of the final product.
- Coordinate line personnel, freezing tunnels and storage.
- Ensure HACCP compliance and health requirements.
Operational scope
- Factory on board
- Freezing tunnels
- Cold warehouses
Profile reviewed by HydroAbyss (2026). Cited rules and timeframes are indicative: the final requirement is set by the flag State, the Administration and each company.