Working as a fish cutter is a challenging job that requires precision and accuracy.
While the main duty of a fish cutter is to cut fish, there are so many correlated work responsibilities that one needs to perform in order to do the job right.
To work as a fish cutter, one does not need more than a high school diploma, or a GED.
However, the skills associated with the work need to be excellent.
Technically, a fish cutter’s seafood experience plays a vital role in the daily responsibilities of the work.
A solid understanding of fish cutting processes, along with advanced knife skills are very important.
Knowledge of seasonal seafood products and their storage metrics is also key in acquiring a job as a fish cutter.
A list of fish cutter duties and responsibilities is provided here:
Fish Cutter Duties and Responsibilities
• Receive and check seafood products to ensure that they are in accordance with purchasing guidelines.
• Monitor the quality and freshness of products, and ensure proper receiving processes.
• Store products in designated freezers, or other storage areas, as per protocol.
• Ensure proper rotation of products to ensure constant freshness.
• Prepare fish and other sea products by cutting, cubing, and shelling them.
• Clean and wash seafood products according to designated safety guidelines.
• Perform filleting and fin removal processes.
• Create slices and cubes, and pack them according to specified standards.
• Remove slime from fish, and ensure that it is properly prepared for canning and boxing purposes.
• Dress, wrap and label seafood products to make them ready for sale.
• Inspect fish and other sea products for problems, such as defects, bruises, and blemishes.
• Remove extra fat from seafood products.
• Process parts into cuts, to ready them for selling purposes.
• Weigh raw, as well as prepared seafood items to ensure that they are properly tagged
• Tag and label fish and other seafood items to ensure proper identification of type, and weight.
• Place packed items into freezers and chillers for selling purposes.
• Clean and maintain prep areas through proper sanitization procedures.
• Properly dispose of scales, skins, and other materials, according to standards.
• Oversee daily merchandising and product maintenance work processes.
• Clean, wash and maintain tools and equipment such as knives, and de-scalers at the end of each workday.
• Maintain inventory levels, and communicate low inventory situations to the supervisor.
• Assist in ordering, and acquiring fish and other seafood products by creating and maintaining an effective liaison with vendors, and suppliers.