imo and the safety of fishing vessels: past, present and future

Annex XXV Radar reflector Iceland
Annex XXVI
Equipment required to comply with the Collision Iceland
Regulations
Annex XXVII International Code of Signals Iceland
Annex XXVIII Distress Signals 1 Iceland
Annex XXIX Basic Pre-sea safety training South Africa, Rep. of Korea
Annex XXX Annotated list of pertinent publications South Africa, FAO
10.4.- Purpose, Scope and Highlights of the future Safety Recommendations
In general terms, the Safety Recommendations follow the same structure and apply the same safety
principles as the Code of Safety and the Voluntary Guidelines. They follow the same chapter organization as
the preceding instruments, only that they apply to ships of lesser length.
The purpose and scope of the Safety Recommendations is to provide information on the design,
construction, equipment and training of the crew of small fishing vessels with a view to promoting the safety of
the vessel and safety and health of the crew. Unless otherwise stated, the provisions of these guidelines are
intended to apply to new decked fishing vessels of less than 12 m in length and new undecked vessels of any
length. Nevertheless, even where not otherwise stated, the competent authority should as far as reasonable
and practical give consideration to the application of these provisions to existing fishing vessels.
They are not intended as a substitute for national laws and regulations but may serve as a guide to
those concerned with framing such national laws and regulations. Each competent authority responsible for
the safety of fishing vessels should ensure that the provisions of this safety recommendation are adapted to its
specific requirements, having due regard to the size and type of vessels, their intended service and area of
operation. Before doing so, competent authorities should consult with the fishing vessel owners and fishermen,
and their representative organizations, and other relevant stakeholders such as fishing vessel designers,
builders, and equipment manufacturers. When adapting the safety recommendations, the competent authority
should endeavour to ensure a level of safety at least equivalent to the provision or provisions concerned.
As usual for this kind of instrument, the provisions of the Recommendations do not apply to fishing
vessels used for sport or recreation.
As we have seen, the vast majority of fishing vessels around the world are those of less than 12
meters in length. In the case of developed countries, we are generally dealing with GRP boats following wellknown
models with high capabilities of stability and seaworthiness. In those cases the body plan of the fishing
vessel is known. But this is not, in fact, the most common scenario worldwide and in most cases smaller boats
are made of wood, possibly artesanal in design with no body plans or hydrostatics, with no GZ or other
particulars.
Given the fact that we are dealing with very different ship designs,i.e. those from Morocco to South
Africa, from Barbados to Indonesia, it is very important that the guidelines should remain “regional” in nature.
As a result they should be determined by the different types of seas, with their different significant wave
heights, and the different types of activity undertaken. A fisherman in Banda Aceh and his vessel will be
different from those in the Red Sea in Yemen, and different again to those in Mauritania.
So, the decision taken by the group was to assess different design categories of ships and different
distance categories that ships could navigate up to. This is, possibly, the most outstanding contribution of the
Recommendations.
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