Aquaculture or Fisheries Scientist (ANZSCO 234116)

On the Core Skills Occupation List

From the official Home Affairs skilled occupation lists, as at 2026-08-12. Lists change at each government update — always confirm on the official page before acting.

Which lists is Aquaculture or Fisheries Scientist on?

CSOL — Core Skills Occupation List. The employer-sponsorship list — occupations on the CSOL can be nominated for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and the Employer Nomination Scheme 186.

Visas this occupation can access

Being on a list makes the occupation nominatable for these visas — each visa still has its own requirements (points, age, English, a positive skills assessment, and for sponsored visas a willing employer or state).

Skills assessment

A positive skills assessment for Aquaculture or Fisheries Scientist comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS describes Aquaculture or Fisheries Research Scientists as studying commercial marine and aquatic plants, animals, ecosystems and aquaculture techniques to assess stock and enhance the productivity of aquatic wild harvest and aquaculture — a commercial-stock and productivity framing. It is a Group A occupation requiring a bachelor's degree or higher in a highly relevant field, plus at least one year of post-qualification employment at an appropriate skill level within the last five years, at 20 hours a week or more. Its own page states explicitly that "Marine Biologists" are not considered under this code, drawing a firm line against the closest-sounding neighbouring title in a different unit group entirely.

Where these applications come unstuck

The named exclusion of Marine Biologist is the trap worth taking seriously: general marine-life research, however aquatic and however credentialled, is not automatically interchangeable with commercial aquaculture or fisheries stock assessment in VETASSESS's own reading, and Marine Biologist (234516) sits in a completely different unit group with a different list profile. An applicant whose work spans both commercial-stock assessment and broader marine biology needs to weigh which side the bulk of the evidence actually supports, because nominating the wrong one here means preparing a career narrative the assessor is specifically told to reject.

An honest read on this pathway

This code is CSOL-only — 186 and 482, both requiring employer sponsorship, are the only visas it reaches, with no points-tested EOI route available under this specific code. That matters for anyone assuming a science-degree-plus-experience profile automatically opens a 189 or 190 pathway: it does not here, unlike the MLTSSL-listed Marine Biologist code that shares the same broad subject area but a different list position. Finding a sponsoring employer in the aquaculture or fisheries sector is a precondition for this pathway, not an optional accelerant.

VETASSESS assesses qualifications and employment separately. Both need documentation that agrees with itself. The Employment History Builder and Document Vault organise each trail before you lodge.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Aquaculture or Fisheries Scientist is your best route depends on your points, experience evidence and timing — exactly what a MARA-registered agent works through in an initial consultation. Describe your situation once through Migratio and compare real consultation quotes from registered agents, free.

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