EPS-TOPIK Sectors: What Does 'Fisheries' Actually Mean?

Introduction

When you write "fisheries" on your application, which place do you picture?

Many people picture the open ocean and a big ship. The place where you actually work on an E-9 visa is smaller and more specific than that. It may be a small fishing boat with a captain and a few crew. It may be a sea farm where oysters or seaweed grow on ropes. It may be a salt farm where seawater is dried in the sun to make salt.

This article shows you that place in advance. First, what fisheries work is, and what kind of boat E-9 workers go out on. Next, a self-check on what kind of work feels comfortable to you. Then the kinds of workplaces there are, and how the rules differ from manufacturing. Finally, the words you will actually hear at sea.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Always verify visa and immigration procedures with HRD Korea's official website or the relevant authority.

Part 1 · What does fisheries work involve?

Fisheries means catching or raising fish and other sea life. Under the Employment Permit System (EPS), making salt from seawater also counts as fisheries.

The EPS lists three industries it recognizes as fisheries: coastal and offshore fishing (연근해어업), aquaculture (양식어업), and salt production (소금채취업).¹ Coastal and offshore fishing means going out by boat to sea near the shore (연안, yeonan) or a little farther out (근해, geunhae) to catch fish. Aquaculture means raising fish, shellfish, and seaweed. Salt production means making salt on a salt farm.

For 2026, the government set the fisheries quota at 7,000 workers. Out of the 70,000 assigned by sector, that comes after manufacturing at 50,000 and agriculture and livestock at 10,000.²

E-9 workers go out on small boats

When people hear "working on a boat," they tend to picture a big ship. But the boats in E-9 fisheries are smaller than that. Let us take it one step at a time.

Korea's Seafarers' Act does not apply to fishing boats under 20 gross tons that are used for fishing.³ And the EPS limits on how many foreign workers each fishing boat may hire are calculated "excluding vessels covered by the Seafarers' Act."⁴ Put together, the fishing boats where E-9 workers work are small boats under 20 tons, not covered by the Seafarers' Act.

Foreign workers on larger fishing boats that are covered by the Seafarers' Act come in on a different visa: Seafarer Employment (선원취업, seonwon chwieop / E-10). It is given to foreign crew members (부원, buwon) under the Seafarers' Act who have signed a seafarer's employment contract with the business that runs the boat.⁵ The names look similar, but E-9 and E-10 are different routes into Korea. Note, though, that the EPS-TOPIK eligibility rules count both together: you cannot apply if your combined stay in Korea on E-9 and E-10 is five years or more.⁶

Part 2 · What kind of work suits you?

You do not choose which boat or which farm you go to. That does not mean there is nothing to do right now.

There is one thing worth knowing in advance: what kind of work feels comfortable to you. Knowing this tells you what to prepare now, and it makes settling in easier once you arrive.

Work at sea has a few clear features. Answer the questions below one by one for yourself.

There is no correct answer. No answer here is better or worse than another.

But if one row made you think "that one would be hard for me," that is where your preparation starts. If water worries you, learn to swim before you go. When you are less afraid of the water, your body stays less stiff on a boat. If handling ropes worries you, practice the knots from Part 3 with your own hands in advance.

Part 3 · Kinds of workplaces and the daily work

Now let us put names to those five questions you just answered.

Before that, there is something worth looking at. Korea has already published what fisheries work involves, in the form of exam tasks. In rounds run under the point system, candidates who pass the EPS-TOPIK take a second-stage skills test. Applicants for fisheries get three tasks for their sector.⁷

• 로프정리 및 매듭 (ropeu jeongni mit maedeup / arranging ropes and tying knots): laying out a rope (로프, ropeu) so it does not tangle, and tying it the set way
• 어획 및 분류 (eohoek mit bullyu / catching and sorting): catching fish (어획, eohoek) and sorting them by kind (분류, bullyu)
• 일륜차 운전 (illyuncha unjeon / pushing a wheelbarrow): pushing a hand cart with one wheel

Besides these three, 핀꽂기 (pin kkotgi / pin insertion) is a common task that every sector takes. The tasks are picked at random for each round. The same page also lists the fitness test (grip and back strength, burpee test, and more) and the interview items.⁷ The task list can change from round to round, so prepare from the notice for your round and the official study materials.

Put the three tasks side by side and you see the basics of work at sea: handling ropes, sorting the catch, and moving heavy loads by cart.

The same page also lists the job competency points. Related experience of one year or more is worth 2 points, related training of 120 hours or more is worth 1 point, a related major at junior college level or above is worth 1 point, and one or more related certificates is worth 1 point, for a maximum of 5. Which rounds this applies to, and how you prove it, must be checked in the recruitment notice.⁷

Now the kinds of workplaces. Whether you catch, raise, or make salt changes the day a great deal.

Coastal fishing boats do different work depending on the nets and gear they use. The EPS table of hiring limits lists several kinds of fishing named after their gear, such as offshore gill nets (근해자망), coastal traps (연안통발), and set nets (정치망).⁴ A gill net (자망, jamang) is a net set across the path where schools of fish pass, so the fish get caught in its mesh. A set net (정치망, jeongchimang) is a net fixed in one place so schools of fish get caught as they pass. A trap (통발, tongbal) is a fishing tool shaped like a tube or basket.⁸

One boat can hire up to 7 foreign workers. And foreign workers cannot be more than 70% of everyone working on that boat.⁴ This means a boat cannot be crewed by foreign workers alone.

Seaweed and shellfish farms are worked by going out by boat to the farm on the water. Some farms grow things hanging from ropes and some grow them on the sea floor, and the EPS table lists these two separately.⁴

Fish farms come in two kinds. One is a net pen farm (가두리 양식, gaduri yangsik), where nets mark off a space in the sea and fish are raised inside it.⁸ The other raises fish in water tanks (수조, sujo) built on land. The table lists "net pen" (가두리식) and "land-based seawater tank" (육상해수양식 수조식) separately. The number of foreign workers a farm may hire is set by farming method and area, in bands.⁴

Salt farms make sun-dried sea salt (천일염, cheonillyeom). This salt is made by moving seawater through the farm's reservoir, evaporation ponds, and crystallizing ponds in turn, drying the water with sun and wind.⁸ So the weather has a big effect on the work. A salt farm of 37,000 m² or less may hire 4 foreign workers, and a larger one may hire 8.⁴ These are workplaces with only a few people.

Part 4 · What is different from manufacturing?

You sit the same exam and enter on the same visa, but some rules change with the sector.

Let us take the rows one at a time.

Start with the score. All the numbers are on a 100-point scale. But none of them is a pass mark. HRD Korea states that the exam is graded on a curve, and describes how successful candidates are decided: "Candidates who score at or above the sector minimum are ranked by score, and successful candidates are decided up to the planned selection quota" (업종별 최저 하한 점수 이상 득점자로서, 선발(예정)인원 만큼 성적순으로 합격자 결정).⁶ The 45 is the line that lets you join the ranked queue. Whether you pass depends on whether your score lands inside the number of people being selected for that sector in that round.

Fisheries has one more thing. HRD Korea's pages list a separate "fisheries special track" (어업 특례, eoeop teukrye). On this track, the first-stage Korean test is not used to rank you by score. It only checks whether you reached 30 out of 100 (Pass) or not (Fail).⁶ In exchange, the second-stage test is worth 110 points and the job competency points are worth 90, far more than on the regular track. The criteria for those points also differ: related experience counts from six months, and education counts from graduation from a fisheries-related high school.⁷ However, the page does not say who takes the exam on this track. Check the notice for your round to see which track applies to you.

The rules on working hours are different from manufacturing. Article 63 of the Labor Standards Act lists cases where the rules on working hours, breaks, and holidays do not apply. The second one is "businesses raising animals, or gathering, catching, or farming aquatic animals and plants, and other livestock, sericulture, and fisheries businesses" (동물의 사육, 수산 동식물의 채취·포획·양식 사업, 그 밖의 축산, 양잠, 수산 사업).⁹ Catching fish at sea (포획, pohoek) and raising them (양식, yangsik) both fall under it. So on fishing boats and fish farms, the 40-hour weekly cap, the 12-hour weekly limit on overtime, and one day off per week are not required by law. In busy seasons, your working hours may get longer.

There is one thing to understand exactly here. What is removed is the rules on working hours, breaks, and holidays. The Labor Standards Act as a whole is not removed. For work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. (night work), there is an interpretation from the Ministry of Government Legislation. In a ruling on a different group under the same Article 63 (workers in monitoring or intermittent jobs), the Ministry limited what the article removes to the rules on working hours, breaks, and holidays and the rules directly tied to them. It then said that night work must still be paid at least 50% more than the ordinary wage.¹⁰ That ruling is not about fisheries directly. Still, work at sea sometimes happens at night, so check in your employment contract how night hours are calculated. Note also that the Labor Standards Act applies to workplaces with five or more regular workers, and only some of its provisions apply where there are four or fewer.⁹

Salt farms need a separate look. The wording of Article 63 does not mention making salt. Be sure to check how the working-hour rules apply on a salt farm when you receive your employment contract, and with your local Job Center.

The minimum wage is the same. The 2026 minimum wage is 10,320 won per hour. Calculated on 209 hours per month at a 40-hour week, that comes to 2,156,880 won. It applies to every workplace with no distinction by sector.¹¹

If you are hurt on a boat, a different law pays you. The law calls a person hired to work on a fishing boat "fishing crew" (어선원, eoseonwon). Accidents and injuries to fishing crew are covered by the Fishing Vessel Crew and Fishing Vessel Accident Compensation Insurance Act. The Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act does not apply to fishing boats covered by this law. The National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (수협중앙회, Suhyup) runs this insurance.¹² In other words, if you are hurt on a boat, you are compensated through fishing crew insurance, not industrial accident insurance. Ask which insurance applies on a fish farm or salt farm when you sign your contract.

Work may slow down during closed fishing seasons. A closed season (금어기, geumeogi) is a period when fishing is not allowed, so fish can lay eggs and grow.⁸ When the fish your boat catches enter a closed season, your work and pay may drop. A Ministry of Employment and Labor notice lists this as one of the reasons for workplace change that are not the worker's fault: "when the worker leaves on the employer's recommendation, because wages are hard to pay due to the off-season for farming, the closed fishing season, and similar, or for other reasons not attributable to the worker" (농한기 및 금어기 등으로 임금 지급이 어렵거나 기타 근로자의 귀책사유로 볼 수 없는 사유로 사용자로부터 권고 등을 받아 퇴사하게 되는 경우).¹³ Put simply, it covers the case where your employer says pay is hard during the closed season and recommends that you leave, so you leave.

For E-9 workers, changing your workplace (a workplace change) is limited to three times in the first three years and twice during the extended period. But the notice above spells out the reasons in Article 25, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers.¹³ And Article 25 of that Act says that changes made for these reasons are not counted toward that limit.¹⁴ Still, you must check with your local Job Center, when you apply, whether your own case is actually accepted as this reason.

There are also deadlines to keep when you move. You must apply for a workplace change within one month of the day your employment contract ends. Then, within three months of applying, you must get permission to work at the new workplace (a permit to change workplace).¹⁴ You must not work anywhere else before you get that permit.¹⁵

In fisheries, the organization that helps with hiring paperwork (the employment agency for the sector) is Suhyup, the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives. The Ministry of Employment and Labor says it designates these agencies to help employers and workers with things like employment permit applications, interpretation, and handling complaints.¹⁶ For the detailed procedure, check with your local Job Center or the Ministry of Employment and Labor call center (1350).

Housing rules are the same regardless of sector. Since January 1, 2021, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has refused new employment permits where the housing provided is a container or a prefabricated panel structure. The only exception is where the local government has issued a construction report certificate for use as "temporary housing."¹⁷ And if an employer provides a vinyl greenhouse or an illegal temporary building as housing, that is also a reason for workplace change that is not the worker's fault under the notice.¹³ These rules are the same in a small seaside village.

Part 5 · The words about safety

That is how much the work differs from workplace to workplace. But if you work at sea, there are things you have to watch out for everywhere.

Look at the 2025 maritime accident figures published by the Korea Maritime Safety Tribunal under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. In 2025 there were 3,513 maritime accidents, and by type of vessel, fishing boats had the most, with 2,312 accidents (65.8%). 137 people died or went missing. By type of accident, "safety accidents" were the largest share of those 137, at 61.3%, and boats overturning (capsizing) accounted for 18.2%. The deaths and missing persons cover all vessels combined, not only fishing boats.¹⁸

A safety accident (안전사고, anjeon sago) is an accident in which a person dies, goes missing, or is injured in connection with a vessel's structure or equipment, or with operating the vessel.¹⁹ In other words, more people lost their lives on boats that stayed upright than in boats that overturned.

That is why Korea sets out the dangers on fishing boats by law. The owner of a fishing boat must take measures to prevent the following.²⁰

• 해상추락 (haesang churak / falling overboard): getting caught in the line of fishing gear, or slipping, and falling into the sea
• 신체충돌 (sinche chungdol / being struck): your body hitting fishing gear, ropes, or the boat's structures
• 신체끼임 (sinche kkiim / getting caught): your body getting caught in the machine that hauls up the net (양망기, yangmanggi)

The same law says that anyone on a fishing boat must wear a 구명조끼 (gumyeong jokki / life jacket) when on the open deck (갑판, gappan). The captain must make everyone on board wear one. The current wording took effect on July 1, 2026. On boats with foreign crew, the safety and health signs that warn of danger must be written in each worker's native language.²⁰

The first sentences to learn at sea are the ones that warn people of danger.

• "사람 빠졌어요!" (saram ppajeosseoyo / "Someone fell in!")
• "줄 조심해!" (jul josimhae / "Watch the rope!")
• "기계 세워!" (gigye sewo / "Stop the machine!")
• "손 빼!" (son ppae / "Get your hand out!")
• "구명조끼 입으세요." (gumyeong jokki ibeuseyo / "Put on your life jacket.")

If you see someone fall into the sea, shout loudly and do not take your eyes off them. Keep pointing toward where they are, so others can find the spot. While a rope is running out, never stand inside the loops of coiled rope.

This shows up on the exam as well. The EPS-TOPIK exam standards describe the content as Korean language ability, understanding of Korean culture, and industrial safety and health.²¹

Part 6 · The words you use while working

After safety, the words you hear most are about the gear and the work in front of you. The eight words below come up often at sea and on the shore.⁸

One kind of fishing, two names

Some fishing names still carry words that came from Japanese. In 2026, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries decided to rename two kinds of fishing with plainer Korean words.²² The EPS table of hiring limits still prints the old names.⁴ So it helps to know both.

According to the Ministry, "angang" comes from the Japanese name for the monkfish, and "gwonhyeon" comes from the name of a sea god worshipped in fishing villages in the Hiroshima area of Japan.²² You do not need to use these words yourself. You only need to understand them when you hear them.

Part 7 · When the words arrive inside a sentence

At work, these words never come alone. They arrive inside short instruction sentences.

Instructions on a boat often come with which way to move the rope or the net. Whether to pull, let go, or haul up matters most. Because of wind and engine noise, instructions may also come cut short.

The way 봐 (bwa), 놔 (nwa), and 둬 (dwo) attached to a verb change its meaning is the same at any workplace. "해 봐" (hae bwa) means try it once now, and "해 놔" (hae nwa) means finish it completely and leave it ready.

The words from above, inside real sentences

When you do not understand

Do not just nod. Memorize these three sentences.

• "다시 한번 말해 주세요." (dasi hanbeon malhae juseyo / "Please say that one more time.")
• "천천히 말해 주세요." (cheoncheonhi malhae juseyo / "Please speak slowly.")
• "당길까요? 풀까요?" (danggilkkayo? pulkkayo? / "Should I pull, or let it go?")

The last one is especially useful on a boat. If you move a rope the wrong way, the net can tangle, or the person next to you can get caught in the rope. If you understood what to do but missed which way to do it, always ask again.

Wrapping Up

You cannot choose your boat or your farm now. What you can prepare now is what you will hear in your first week. Three things.

First, start with the sentences that warn of danger. "사람 빠졌어요!", "기계 세워!", "손 빼!". Of the 137 people who died or went missing in maritime accidents in 2025, 61.3% were in safety accidents. These sentences come before any tool name.

Second, learn the words of the sea. 어구, 양망기, 갑판, 구명조끼, 물때, 가두리 양식, 염전, 금어기. Add the names of the three skills test tasks, and your first week gets noticeably easier.

Third, learn instructions together with their direction. "줄 당겨" (pull the rope), "줄 풀어" (let the rope go), "그물 올려" (haul up the net). On a boat, which way you move something matters as much as what you do. Learn the three "please repeat" sentences alongside them.

If you are not sure where to begin, look again at the questions you answered in Part 2. If water worries you, start with 구명조끼 (life jacket), 사람 빠졌어요 (someone fell in), and 갑판 (deck). If working hours worry you, remember Article 63 and the closed season from Part 4 first.

Your application says only "fisheries." What you will actually meet is rope, nets, and salt. Think in those specific words now, and you will understand far more in your first week in Korea.

Practice with SEDA

Safety words and work words are easy to forget after you see them once. Later, when you hear them on a boat, they may not come back to you.

Try SEDA's reading questions on safety and health. Save the ones you get wrong to Review Notes. You will get reminders at D+3, D+7, and D+30. You meet the same expression three times on three different days.

Download SEDA — free on iOS and Android

References