How Much Do Deckhands Make? Crew Shares, Day Rates and Real Numbers

Ask ten deckhands what they made last season and you will get ten numbers, because most fishing crew are not paid a wage. They are paid a slice of what the boat sells, after the boat takes out its costs, and that slice depends on the fishery, the price, the run and how long you have been on deck. This article explains the math with fishery data and the tax rules that apply to you.

For credentials, drug testing and who hires green crew, read deckhand jobs: TWIC cards, crew shares and who hires. For Alaska season dates and cannery wages, read how to get an Alaska fishing job.

How are fishing deckhands paid?

Most are paid a crew share: a percentage of the catch’s value after the boat’s shared costs come out. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says fishers are typically paid a percentage of the boat’s overall catch, so “the more fish that are caught, the greater the crew share becomes,” and pay can swing widely from season to season. Federal crab data describe the same system: crew settlements are typically paid on the gross ex-vessel value after deductions for fishing costs such as fuel and provisions.

The share covers everything. Alaska’s crew guide says minimum wage laws do not apply to crew member jobs, and that the daily rate, share or percentage is considered pay for all work, including boat and gear maintenance you do without extra pay. The same guide says some vessels pay a daily rate instead of a share, and that floating processors may pay by the hour. On factory trawlers, American Seafoods pays a crew share deposited 10 business days after each trip.

Get the deal in writing. Federal law requires the owner of a fishing vessel of at least 20 gross tons to make a written fishing agreement with each crew member that states the period and the terms of any wage, share or other pay. The state advises all new crew to get a signed agreement that clearly explains pay and other entitlements before going to work, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game notes that crew who are not paid can file a wage claim with the Department of Labor.

What share does a greenhorn get compared with an experienced deckhand?

Less. Alaska’s crew guide says newcomer deckhand earnings range from 1.5% to 10% of the adjusted gross catch, depending on the location, the fishery and your skills, and warns that market conditions have pushed some share rates down. The guide appears to date from around 2009, since it quotes that year’s license fees, but it is still the state’s published range. The BLS says more experienced crew members often receive a greater share than entry-level workers.

The best public data on how a catch is split comes from the Bering Sea crab fleet, which reports crew pay to NOAA through economic data reports. In 2022, the median crab vessel paid its deck crew, all together, 14% of gross revenue and its captain 6%, for 19% to labor in total (rounded). From 2005 to 2011, when vessels also reported pay after deductions, the median snow crab boat paid its crew 26% to 27% of net revenue and its captain 12% to 14% (Crab Economic SAFE report, September 2024). Your personal share is the crew’s portion divided among however many people are on deck, weighted by position.

Crew size varies less than you might think. The state says near-shore salmon and herring boats of 20 to 60 feet carry one to six crew, and that a 160-foot trawler can run with a deck crew of about five, the same as a 58-foot seiner. Extra duties can pay extra: the IRS rules for share-paid crew allow cash of up to $100 a trip for duties like mate, engineer or cook when that pay depends on a minimum catch. The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association crew training program leaves the rate to each skipper and says season-long placements “pay a normal deckhand fare.”

How much is a crew share in dollars?

Start with what the boat grosses, take out the shared expenses, then apply your percentage. The Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission publishes average gross earnings per permit fished, which is the closest public number to what one boat sold in a season:

Alaska salmon fishery	Permits fished, 2025	Average gross per permit, 2025 (preliminary)	Average gross per permit, 2024	5% of 2025 average, before expenses
Bristol Bay drift gillnet	1,276	$214,305	$110,111	$10,715
Bristol Bay set gillnet	839	$77,360	$40,480	$3,868
Southeast purse seine	200	$248,637	$225,532	$12,432
Prince William Sound purse seine	177	$357,377	$63,017	$17,869

Source: Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, Basic Information Tables for fisheries S03T, S04T, S01A and S01E, updated Aug 25, 2026. The 5% column is simple multiplication for illustration, not a reported wage.

Look at the swing. The average Prince William Sound seine permit grossed nearly six times as much in 2025 as in 2024, so the same 5% deckhand would have taken home about $3,150 in the bad year before expenses. Crab shows the same volatility per day: NOAA’s crab data put deck crew pay at about $2,400 per day at sea in 2021 and $1,700 in 2022, in 2022 dollars, as crab landings fell to a record low. Seasons are short too. Alaska’s seafood harvesting jobs peaked at 17,361 in July 2024 and fell to 702 by December (Alaska Economic Trends, November 2025).

What gets deducted from a deckhand’s pay?

Two layers of costs come out: the boat’s shared expenses before shares are figured, and your own costs. The state says many boats charge crew a share of operating expenses such as food, fuel, bait and ice. That is why, at the median snow crab boat in 2011, the crew’s combined share was 27% of net revenue but only 14% of gross. Ask the skipper which costs come off the top, whether you pay for groceries, and how the split is figured if you leave early.

Then there are your own costs. In Alaska you must buy a commercial crewmember license if you handle gear or help run, dock or maintain the boat; the ADF&G price list shows $60 a year for residents and $220 for nonresidents, or a $30 seven-day license limited to one a year. Keep it valid: the Fishermen’s Fund, which can help with medical bills after an injury, requires a valid crew license or permit at the time you are hurt. You also supply your own rain gear, boots, gloves and sleeping bag; the state’s older guide listed about $100 for rain gear and $40 to $70 for boots.

Ask who pays for travel before you go. Alaska law requires an employer that pays your way to the job to pay your return fare too, unless you are fired for cause. Taxes come last, and nothing is withheld from a share, which the next section covers.

How are deckhands taxed?

If you are paid a share, the IRS usually treats you as self-employed. Under IRS Publication 334, a fishing crew member’s earnings are subject to self-employment tax when all of these apply: you get a share of the catch or of the proceeds from its sale, your share depends on the size of the catch, the boat’s operating crew normally numbers fewer than 10, and you get no other pay except up to $100 a trip for traditional extra duties that depends on a minimum catch. Fewer than 10 means the average crew on trips over the last four calendar quarters was under 10.

The skipper reports your share in box 5 of Form 1099-MISC, “Fishing boat proceeds”. You report it on Schedule C, and if your net earnings are $400 or more you owe self-employment tax on Schedule SE (IRS Topic 416). The self-employment tax rate is 15.3%, 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare, and you can deduct the employer-equivalent half when you figure your adjusted gross income. Schedule C is also where you list business expenses.

Fishing income gets a break on estimated taxes. If fishing was at least two-thirds of your gross income this year or last, you can skip quarterly payments by filing and paying everything by March 1, or by making one estimated payment by January 15. Set money aside from every settlement. If a boat pays you a wage instead of a share, these rules do not apply; the IRS says wages go on a Form W-2, not a 1099-MISC.

What do deckhands earn on charter boats and other vessels?

Off fishing boats, pay is steadier and lower at the top. The federal wage series that covers ordinary and able seamen, 53-5011 Sailors and Marine Oilers, counted 31,670 jobs in May 2025 with a national median of $24.77 an hour, or $51,520 a year, from $16.61 at the 10th percentile to $40.20 at the 90th. In Alaska the median was $30.35 for 480 jobs. Captains, mates and pilots, the next step up, had a national median of $44.45 an hour.

The fishing series has no current wage. BLS says wage data for fishing and hunting workers were last updated in May 2017, when the median was $28,530 a year, with the bottom 10% under $18,710 and the top 10% over $48,170. The occupation held about 28,200 jobs in 2025, 32% of them self-employed, and BLS projects a 4% decline from 2025 to 2035.

Charter deckhands live on tips. Several Alaska operators tell customers their deckhands work for tips: Crazy Ray’s in Seward suggests 15% to 20% of the trip, or about $80 a person, and Saltwater Excursions in Whittier says its deckhands work entirely on tips and suggests 20%, about $100 a person for a full day. A 2022 In The Bite article quoted a Hatteras mate getting $130 to $150 a day from the captain plus tips of 15% to 20%. For the full picture, read fishing charter deckhand and mate jobs.

Open crew listings with the pay structure stated are at Alaska deckhand jobs and fishing crew jobs.