I’m a 16 year ancient dropout and I’ve been hired as a processor on a salmon fishing boat in Alaska. Do processors get promoted to deckhands, if not what do they get promoted to?
Can A Processor On A Fishing Vessel Be Promoted To Deckhand?
February 28th, 2010 
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Probably not. Deckhands need a lot of skills that a slime-line worker does not have. If you pay attention and express an interest in deckhand work, they might go you up to that position eventually, but on those boats, it’s all about putting in your time
There is always a chance that a excellent worker in the processing area could get promoted to deckhand, but it is not likely. The additional terrible news is that the seatime you gain as a processor will not count towards an Able Seaman merchant mariner’s document either. Those type of jobs are really dead-end jobs.
If you want to work on a ship I would suggest that you get an Run of the mill Seaman’s card. There are bounty of tug and supply boat companies willing to hire entry level deckhands. The payrate is about $200 a day for 12-hour shifts and the seatime will count towards an Able Seaman’s Document. Once you get that then you can look at working on cargo ships and tankers and your payrate goes to over $250 a day.
Check out this website for information on getting an OS document http://columbiapacificonline.com/
Go back to school. See you are by now smart enough to know you are at a deadend job. You could be Captain if you get an education. Go back to school while you are young or you will regret it the rest of you life. P.S. Alaska Salmon fishing is perilous work, more so for a greenhorn processor.