Senior Aquaculture, Crop and Forestry Workers

Senior aquaculture, crop and forestry workers oversee and coordinate specialist operations across fish farming, horticulture, and timber production in Australian agricultural and environmental settings. They supervise teams, manage production schedules, maintain compliance with biosecurity and environmental regulations, and troubleshoot technical problems in cultivation or harvest systems. They report to farm or forest managers and are responsible for optimising yield, managing resource inputs, and ensuring workplace health and safety on-site.

Supervise teams of farm or forestry workers and coordinate daily work schedules across aquaculture ponds, crop paddocks, or timber compartments. Monitor water quality parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature) in aquaculture systems and adjust aeration or circulation equipment to maintain optimal conditions. Diagnose and treat fish disease outbreaks in aquaculture facilities by observing behavioural changes, applying medicated feed, or isolating affected stock. Inspect crop canopy health, soil moisture, and pest or disease incidence in horticultural operations and recommend corrective actions. Operate and maintain mechanical harvesting equipment, irrigation systems, and aquaculture feeding apparatus, including routine servicing and troubleshooting. Record production data including stocking density, feed conversion ratios, disease incidents, pesticide applications, and harvest yields in farm management software or logbooks. Ensure compliance with biosecurity protocols (e.g. quarantine procedures, decontamination) and report disease or pest findings to relevant regulatory bodies such as the Department of Primary Industries. Coordinate the safe application of pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides according to product labels and Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) regulations.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

You're moving into a role that demands on-call problem-solving in live production systems. Fish disease outbreaks or equipment failures don't wait for business hours, and you're responsible when they happen. Pay also caps out well below what you'd earn in comparable supervisory roles in other industries. Certification and ongoing compliance training (biosecurity, APVMA, workplace safety) never stops.

These roles concentrate in coastal regions for aquaculture and in horticultural clusters. Forestry supervisors are in plantation regions. Jobs are almost entirely regional or remote, not metro-based. Remote work is uncommon; you're on-site managing living systems and equipment.

• Attention to Detailcore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Inventory Trackingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Record Managementcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Written Communicationcore
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Digital Literacy
• Goal Setting and Planning
• Process Improvement Identification
• Report Writing
• Research and Analysis
• Supplier Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 30 October 2026