Educational Advice & Careers

Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM)

The IFM runs a two-year ‘distance learning’ Certificate course in fisheries management. The more advanced Diploma course has been suspended subject to a full review, although it is expected to be offered again in 2013. Details can be found at: www.ifm.org.uk

Further Education (FE)

Burbot An extremely useful and increasingly popular means of developing a career based around angling is within the fields of fisheries and aquatics. There are several means of doing this, and the range of options is set out in the Institute of Fisheries Management booklet on this subject.

www.ifm.org.uk/what-we-do/training/careers

There are several county-based FE colleges (formerly agricultural colleges) that offer course in fisheries, aquatics and fisheries management. They include Sparsholt (Hampshire), Bridgewater (Somerset), Bishop Burton (East Yorks), Otley (Suffolk), Shuttleworth (Lancs.), Myercough (Lancs.), Hadlow (Kent) and Barony (Dumfries).

Most of the colleges offer full-time fishery management and aquatics courses at various levels.

Higher Education (HE)

Most of the colleges also offer Diploma courses. These open up a far wider range of employment opportunities, as well as providing a framework for progression from Further to Higher Education, with the employment benefits which stem from this. In conjunction with allied academic institutions. Some of the Diploma courses can lead to an Honours Degree.

Hull University also runs fisheries degree courses, and its specialist unit - the Hull International Fisheries Institute - offers M.Sc. and Ph.D. fisheries post-graduate research degrees. Details can be found at: www.hull.ac.uk/hifi

Careers

The Further Education and Higher Education courses would help the better students gain employment as (amongst others):

Fishery inspectors & fisheries officers, working for the Environment Agency and other government agencies
Managers of commercial fisheries, fish farms and shops selling ornamental fish
Angling journalists
Fisheries consultants, advisors and field staff (employed or self-employed)
Teachers and research workers

Angling-Based Opportunities

There are very few full-time jobs in angling itself, although there are occasionally some openings in industries that depend on the sport. For example, there may be some opportunities for young or largely unqualified people in:-

Fishing tackle shops that require staff to help serve customers
Angling magazines, which need junior staff
Tackle manufacturers, wholesalers and importers requiring warehouse personnel, drivers, and other personnel
Commercial fishery owners who employ bailiffs
Fish farmers who employ manual workers

The qualifications and qualities required would be somewhat different in each case.