Loss Prevention Advice

A notice to strengthen collision prevention between merchant ships and fishing vessels in the in Coastal Waters of China.

China MSA issued a notice to all its affiliated Maritime Safety Administrations (MSAs) to strengthen collision prevention between merchant ships and fishing vessels, providing guidance aimed at improving navigation safety, reducing collision risks, and safeguarding both crews and vessels operating in China’s busy coastal waters. collision Prevention Between Merchant Ships and Fishing Vessels”

1. Emphasizing shore-based monitoring and guidance

• The Notice explicitly requires shipowners and managers to implement a 24-hour shore-based watch-keeping system. Shore-based personnel are responsible for dynamically monitoring ships and receiving real-time warnings from competent authorities regarding waters with dense fishing vessels, high-risk areas, and concentrated port entry and exit of fishing vessels. They are also required to guide ships in conducting pre-voyage risk assessments, verifying voyage plans, collision avoidance protocols, and watch-keeping arrangements in fishing areas, while establishing a coordinated “shore-based and shipboard” collision prevention mechanism.
• While these requirements primarily apply to Chinese shipowners and Chinese-flagged vessels, it is recommended that all shipowners and ships adopt these measures as industry best practices.

2. Refined navigation requirements

• The Notice emphasizes the “collision avoidance first” principle during navigation watch handovers, stating that handover should only occur after completing collision prevention operations and ensuring the safe passage and clearance of other vessels, to avoid risks caused by interruptions or disturbances during handover.
• Ships navigating in dense fishing vessel waters along China’s coast must strengthen bridge watch-keeping manpower, with a minimum of two qualified watch-keepers on duty. The master must issue specific night orders detailing safe navigation requirements in fishing areas during nighttime.
• Detailed guidance on collision prevention between merchant ships and fishing vessels includes:
1. Merchant ships should exercise good seamanship, taking early and positive collision avoidance actions while ensuring their own navigation safety to avoid close-quarter situations.
2. Maintain a minimum closest point of approach (CPA) of 1 nautical mile (0.5 nautical mile in dense fishing vessel waters, where practicable).
3. When passing trawlers, maintain at least 1 nautical mile from the stern and avoid crossing between pair trawlers.
4. When passing vessels engaged in seining operations, keep a safe distance and pass on the windward and upstream side.
• The Notice also advises keeping clear of low-speed fishing vessels, which may be at anchor, adrift, or conducting fishing operations, with irregular bridge watch-keeping and inoperable VHF/AIS equipment, requiring extreme caution for collision avoidance.

3. Equipment operation and emergency response measures

• The Notice specifies that fishing nets of fishing vessels engaged in drift netting, stow netting, and cage fishing are displayed as triangular markers on electronic charts, and alerts that AIS fishing net position locators may impair bridge watch-keepers’ judgment of AIS, ECDIS, and Radar data.
• For foreign-flagged vessels, the Notice stresses the need to fully take language barriers into account when communicating with fishing vessels via VHF.
• The Notice also sets forth emergency maneuvering measures for merchant ships in close-quarters situations, such as taking decisive actions including slowing down, stopping/reversing the engine, and altering course to avoid bow-on collision with the side of fishing vessels, so as to minimize collision consequences.
• The merchant ship must stop immediately in the event of a collision and give top priority to the rescue of human life. Provided that its own safety is not endangered, the merchant ship shall make every effort to carry out search and rescue operations. Unauthorized departure from the scene is strictly prohibited until all persons in distress have been rescued. Meanwhile, the ship shall immediately report full accident details, including location of the incident, name of the vessel in distress, casualties, ship damage, weather and sea conditions, and rescue needs to the nearest MSA via effective means such as VHF and satellite telephones, and notify surrounding ships to request rescue support.