The FAO Standard Specifications for the Marking and Identification of Fishing Vessels

• Pages: 138-142

Contenidos

• Foreword.
• 1. General provisions.
• 1. 1 Purpose and scope.
• 1. 2 Definitions.
• 1. 3 Basis for the Standard Specifications.
• 2. Basic System and Application.
• 2. 1 Basic system.
• 2. 2 Application.
• 3. Technical Specifications.
• 3. 1 Specifications of letters and numbers.
• 3. 2 Painting.
• 4. Registration of Marks.
• 5. International Allocation of Call Signs.

Page 138

Foreword

The need for an international standard system for the marking and identification of fishing vessels was included in the Strategy for Fisheries Management and Development approved by the 1984 FAO World Fisheries Conference. An Expert Consultation on the Marking of Fishing Vessels convened by the Government of Canada, in collaboration with FAO, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, March 1985, elaborated the basis for a standard system.

A review of the report of this Expert Consultation by the Sixteenth Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries resulted in a further Expert Consultation on the Technical Specifications for the Marking of Fishing Vessels convened in Rome, June 1986.

The Specifications contained herein were endorsed by the Eighteenth Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, Rome, April 1989, for adoption by States on a voluntary basis as a standard system to identify fishing vessels operating, or likely to operate, in waters of States other than those of the flag State. The Director General of FAO has informed the Secretary Generals of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the adoption of these Standard Specifications as an aid to fisheries management and safety at sea.

1. General provisions

1. 1 Purpose and scope

1.1.1 As an aid to fisheries management and safety at sea, fishing vessels should be appropriately marked for their identification on the basis of the International Telecommunication Union Radio Call Signs (IRCS) system.

1.1.2 For the purpose of these Standard Specifications, the use of the word "vessel" refers to any vessel intending to fish or engaged in fishing or ancillary activities, operating, or likely to operate, in waters of States other than those of the flag State.

1. 2 Definitions

For the purpose of these Specifications:

1. the word "vessel" also includes a boat, skiff or craft (excluding Page 139 aircraft) carried on board another vessel and required for fishing operations;

2. a deck is any surface lying in the horizontal plane, including the top of the wheelhouse;

3. a radio station is one that is assigned an International Telecommunication Union Radio Call Sign.

1. 3 Basis for the Standard Specifications

The basis for the Standard Specifications, the IRCS system, meets the following requirements:

1. the use of an established international system from which the identity and nationality of vessels can be readily determined, irrespective of size and tonnage, and for which a register is maintained;

2. it is without prejudice to international conventions...