Fishing Vessels

Trawling: green-over-white; other fishing: red-over-white.

Paragraph (a): Application

A vessel engaged in fishing, whether underway or at anchor, shall exhibit only the lights and shapes prescribed in this Rule.

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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

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Paragraph (a): Application

A vessel engaged in fishing, whether underway or at anchor, shall exhibit only the lights and shapes prescribed in this Rule.

Paragraph (b): Trawling

A vessel engaged in trawling (dragging a dredge net or other apparatus through the water) shall exhibit: (i) two all-round lights in a vertical line, the upper green and the lower white (or, by day, two cones with their apexes together in a vertical line); (ii) a masthead light abaft of and higher than the green light, optional under 50 m; (iii) when making way, sidelights and a sternlight as well.

Paragraph (c): Fishing other than trawling

A vessel engaged in fishing, other than trawling, shall exhibit: (i) two all-round lights in a vertical line, the upper red and the lower white (or, by day, two cones with their apexes together in a vertical line); (ii) when outlying gear extends more than 150 m horizontally, an all-round white light or a cone apex-upwards in the direction of the gear; (iii) when making way, sidelights and a sternlight as well.

Paragraph (d): Close proximity

The additional signals described in Annex II apply to a vessel engaged in fishing in close proximity to other vessels engaged in fishing. Annex II 2(a) says vessels of 20 m or more in length when engaged in trawling "shall exhibit" them.

Paragraph (e): When not fishing

A vessel not engaged in fishing shall not exhibit these lights or shapes: only those prescribed for a vessel of her length.

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.