The safety of fishing vessels has been a matter of concern to IMO since the Organization’s inception, but the differences in design and operation between fishing vessels and other types of ship have proved to be an obstacle to their inclusion in the SOLAS and Load Lines Conventions.
The fact remains that the fishing sector, which reportedly suffers around 24,000 human losses annually, is still lacking the international mandatory safety regime which would be provided by the 1993 Torremolinos Protocol for the Safety of Fishing Vessels and the International Convention on Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel, 1995, if both instruments had come into force.
Fishers often seem neither aware of nor willing to admit the risks inherent in their occupation. In addition to plenty of anecdotal evidence there are scientific studies showing the risky disposition of fishers, even reporting that fishers are more prone to suffer fatal injuries on land than members of other occupations. In a Canadian study the “hierarchy of worries” among offshore fishers showed that their greatest concerns centred on the depletion of the fish stocks and the potential loss of work etc. only mentioning fear of injury on the job at the bottom.
Accidents involving fishers are more common the longer they have been on the job, and there is threefold risk of a fatal accident if the seafarer has been more than 10 years on the job. Possible explanations include that the more experienced are likely to be entrusted with the dangerous tasks and may be more prone to taking risks. Also, younger crew members are more likely to have received safety training than the older ones. This gives reason to hope that concerted efforts in improving safety education and training of fishers may result in reduced accident rates, along with improved vessel design, construction and working conditions on board.
IMO is implementing a technical co-operation programme to provide information and assistance, at the regional level, in order to promote acceptance of the two instruments, as well as the implementation of the Fishing Vessel Safety Code and Voluntary Guidelines.
Whilst the entry into force of the Torremolinos Protocol and the STCW-F Convention remains a prime goal, the Fishing Vessel Safety Code and Voluntary Guidelines provide useful recommendations to safeguard fishermen’s lives.
It was originally intended that requirements for crews on fishing vessels should be developed as a Protocol to the main STCW Convention, but after careful consideration it was agreed that it would be better to adopt a completely separate Convention. The Convention is the first attempt to make standards of safety for crews of fishing vessels mandatory internationally.
On 7 July 1995, the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel was adopted as a separate treaty as part of the comprehensive revisions to STCW. It applies the principles of STCW to fishing vessels from ratifying states that are 24 metres in length and above. STCW-F came into force on 29 September 2012.
The STCW-F Convention is comparatively short and consists of 15 Articles and an annex containing technical regulations.
The IMO STCF-F code states in chapter 3 Basic Safety Training for all fishing vessel
personnel, Regulation 1, section 1:
“Fishing Vessel personnel shall, before being assigned to any shipboard duties, receive
basic training approved by the Administration in the following areas:
1. Personal survival techniques, including donning of lifejackets and, as appropriate,
immersion suits;
2. Fire prevention and fire fighting;
3. Emergency procedures;
4. Elementary first aid;
5. Prevention of marine pollution; and
6. Prevention of shipboard accidents.
As the developed nations viz Canada, Norway & New Zealand ratify the convention, we hope that developing countries take the loss of life seriously and make this convention mandatory.
The Deep Draft 
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