Fishing and Hunting Workers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 6% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 94% of the time, stays with people.
Hunt, trap, catch, or gather wild animals or aquatic animals and plants. May use nets, traps, or other equipment. May haul catch onto ship or other vessel.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on2 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people38 h
Fishing and Hunting Workers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 2 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 38 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Compute positions and plot courses on charts to navigate vessels, using instruments such as compasses, sextants, and charts (under an hour); Interpret weather and vessel conditions to determine appropriate responses (under an hour); Oversee the purchase of supplies, gear, and equipment (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 6%
- 0%
- 94%
Anthropic's data does not cover this job.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 5%. Today's estimate: 6%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 29 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 85% of this job's working time as physical work. For 33% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 18% in a purpose-built cell, 11% in a structured facility, 3% in any setting. 0.52 of 3, the 305th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 15%
- No robot shown 52%
- In a purpose-built cell 18%
- In a structured facility 11%
- In any setting 3%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 29 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest marine life for human or animal consumption, using diving or dredging equipment, traps, barges, rods, reels, or tackle.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Steer vessels and operate navigational instruments.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, DFFAS+ autonomous navigation system (GENBU, Olympia Dream Seto, Hokuren Maru No.2 and others) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 1.7 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Direct fishing or hunting operations, and supervise crew members.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Participate in animal damage control, wildlife management, disease control, and research activities.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 4.2 h1.7 h to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Patrol trap lines or nets to inspect settings, remove catch, and reset or relocate traps.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 2.5 h50 min to 5.8 h | Stays with people | |
| Travel on foot, by vehicle, or by equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in any setting, RACER Fleet Vehicles / RACER Heavy Platform (DARPA RACER) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Select, bait, and set traps, and lay poison along trails, according to species, size, habits, and environs of birds or animals and reasons for trapping them.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain engines, fishing gear, and other on-board equipment and perform minor repairs.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Locate fish, using fish-finding equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Put fishing equipment into the water and anchor or tow equipment, according to the fishing method used.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Sort, pack, and store catch in holds with salt and ice.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Optimar onboard factory with freezing hotel and sorting robot (FT Berlin NC-107) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Connect accessories such as floats, weights, flags, lights, or markers to nets, lines, or traps.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Sailors and Marine Oilers13% now, 20% by 2028
- Motorboat Operators5% now, 5% by 2028
- Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels7% now, 8% by 2028
- Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals2% now, 2% by 2028
- Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse3% now, 3% by 2028
- Forest and Conservation Workers2% now, 2% by 2028
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Fishing and Hunting Workers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 6% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 6% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Fishing and Hunting Workers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Compute positions and plot courses on charts to navigate vessels, using instruments such as compasses, sextants, and charts (100% of the task's time now); Interpret weather and vessel conditions to determine appropriate responses (100% of the task's time now); and Oversee the purchase of supplies, gear, and equipment (99% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Fishing and Hunting Workers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Harvest marine life for human or animal consumption, using diving or dredging equipment, traps, barges, rods, reels, or tackle; Steer vessels and operate navigational instruments; and Direct fishing or hunting operations, and supervise crew members. Together such tasks are about 94% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Fishing and Hunting Workers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Fishing and Hunting Workers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 85% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 33% of the working time, 3% in any setting. Its index is 0.52 of 3. One example: RACER Fleet Vehicles / RACER Heavy Platform (DARPA RACER) for "travel on foot, by vehicle, or by equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 29 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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