COLREGs trainerAnnexes
Annex II
Extra lights for trawlers and purse seiners when working near one another.
Wording follows the International Regulations as printed in the US Coast Guard Navigation Rules handbook (2024), with British spelling, and is shortened in places. Download the rules
Lights exhibited under Rule 26(d) shall be placed where they can best be seen, at least 0.9 m apart but lower than the Rule 26(b)(i)/(c)(i) lights. They shall be visible all round at a distance of at least 1 mile, but less than the range of the lights prescribed for fishing vessels.
(a) Vessels of 20 m or more in length when engaged in trawling, whether using demersal or pelagic gear, shall exhibit: (i) when shooting their nets: two white lights in a vertical line; (ii) when hauling their nets: one white light over one red light in a vertical line; (iii) when the net has come fast upon an obstruction: two red lights in a vertical line. (b) Each vessel of 20 m or more in length engaged in pair trawling shall exhibit: (i) by night, a searchlight directed forward and in the direction of the other vessel of the pair; (ii) when shooting or hauling their nets or when their nets have come fast upon an obstruction, the lights in 2(a) above. (c) A vessel of less than 20 m in length engaged in trawling, whether using demersal or pelagic gear, or engaged in pair trawling, may exhibit the lights in paragraphs (a) or (b), as appropriate.
Vessels fishing with purse seine gear may exhibit two yellow lights in a vertical line, flashing alternately every second with equal light and occultation. They may be shown only when the vessel is hampered by her fishing gear.
A training aid, not the official text. The COLREGs are an IMO convention, and your national authority publishes the version that applies in its waters. Check the rules themselves before you rely on them at sea. Download the rules.