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Fishing and pilotage: light order matters

Green over white, red over white and white over red communicate distinct activities.

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In this guide
Three all-round pairs: trawling green over white; other fishing red over white; pilotage white over red. Below, fishing adds sidelights+sternlight when making way, pilotage when underway; supplements and thresholds are in text. Not complete installation sets.
Fishing and pilotage · vertical order

Original interpretation schematic with declared functions and references. No scale, approved installation or operational track.

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Three all-round pairs: trawling green over white; other fishing red over white; pilotage white over red. Below, fishing adds sidelights+sternlight when making way, pilotage when underway; supplements and thresholds are in text. Not complete installation sets.

Two lights in a vertical line need colour, order and context. Green over white identifies the trawling set; red over white, fishing other than trawling; white over red, pilotage duty.

Reversing the order changes the reading. These are parts of prescribed sets, not complete vessel photographs.

Rules 26 and 29 add activity, motion and other-light conditions. Establish which light is actually above before counting dots.

Trawling is a defined activity

Rule 26(b) concerns dragging a net or other fishing apparatus through the water. Both lights are all-round, green above white.

The day shape is two cones vertically with apexes together. There is also a masthead abaft and higher than the green: it is optional below fifty metres.

Making way through the water adds sidelights and sternlight. Teaching that a trawler always shows only two lights is therefore inaccurate.

Rule 26(a) applies its sets while fishing, whether underway or at anchor. The ordinary anchor light is not automatically added.

When not fishing, 26(e) excludes retaining fishing signals and refers to those for the vessel’s length. Rule 3(d) requires apparatus restricting manoeuvrability.

A simple fishing rod, a fishing-vessel name or stored nets on deck does not alone demonstrate current status.

Other fishing and outlying gear

Fishing other than trawling under 26(c) shows all-round red above all-round white, with the same apexes-together cones. Gear extending more than one hundred and fifty metres horizontally adds an all-round white light or an upward cone in the gear direction.

That third light must not automatically be read as a second vessel. Making way adds sidelights and sternlight.

The threshold concerns horizontal gear extent, not hull length or another vessel’s safe clearance.

Pilotage and supplementary signals

Pilotage duty under Rule 29 uses all-round white above red at or near the masthead. Underway adds sidelights and sternlight; at anchor adds the anchor lights or shape.

Outside pilotage duty the vessel shows signals for her length. This creates no absolute priority.

The white/red pair still needs orientation, other signals and context; a background white light can falsify the apparent vertical order.

In Annex II additions, a trawler of twenty metres or more uses two vertical whites when shooting nets, white over red when hauling and two reds when nets are fast; below twenty these additions may be used. Pair trawling also has directed-searchlight provisions.

Purse-seine fishing may use two yellows alternating every second with equal light and eclipse duration only while hampered by gear. These operational signals supplement the base pair; two additional reds must not alone be mistaken for not-under-command status.

Annex II supplements fishing near other fishing vessels: its operational additions do not replace Rule 26. For trawlers of twenty metres or more it distinguishes shooting, hauling and gear fast on an obstruction; pair trawling has its own provisions.

Additional lights sit below the base sets and have their own range. They must not be confused with new Rule 18 categories.

The figure is a key to three base pairs, with supplements stated in the text, rather than an installation, every activity or an encounter decision.

Sources and references

  1. RIEAM / COLREGs — Rule 26: Fishing vessels ↗

    Instituto Hidrográfico / International Maritime Organization · Rule 26, normative Portuguese printed p.40 (PDF p.46); International English cross-check in USCG handbook.

    Rule 26; IH normative Portuguese printed p.40, PDF p.46; English International column cross-check. Individual provision commencement not established: valid_from remains null.

    Checked on
  2. RIEAM / COLREGs — Rule 20: Application of lights and shapes ↗

    Instituto Hidrográfico / International Maritime Organization · Rule 20, normative Portuguese printed p.29 (PDF p.35); International English cross-check in USCG handbook. Rule 21, normative Portuguese printed p.29 (PDF p.35); International English cross-check in USCG handbook.

    Rule 20; IH normative Portuguese printed p.29, PDF p.35; English International column cross-check. Individual provision commencement not established: valid_from remains null. Rule 21; IH normative Portuguese printed p.29, PDF p.35; English International column cross-check. Individual provision commencement not established: valid_from remains null.

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  3. COLREGs Annex II — Additional signals for fishing vessels fishing in close proximity ↗

    Instituto Hidrográfico / International Maritime Organization · Annex II; printed p.75, PDF p.81; International cross-check USCG.

    Annex II, IH printed p.75 (PDF p.81); cross-check International annex in USCG handbook. Installation/approval is not taught.

    Checked on
  4. USCG amalgamated rules — International current web cross-check ↗

    United States Coast Guard Navigation Center · International/shared Rules 3,20–30,32–35; International Annexes I–III. International-only wording identified by angle-bracket legend; all Inland insertions excluded. Rule35(j)/(k) compared with IH normative Portuguese printed55/PDF61 and English appendix89–90/PDF95–96.

    Directly read 11 October2026 alongside freshly fetched corrected-August2024 official handbook. Current page confirms under12 paragraph(j) and pilot(k); Portuguese IH agrees; its English appendix differs. Access is not qualified legal approval. No unsupported exact consolidation date assigned.

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  5. RIEAM / COLREGs — Rule 18: Responsibilities between vessels ↗

    Instituto Hidrográfico / International Maritime Organization · Rule 18, normative Portuguese printed p.23 (PDF p.29); International English cross-check in USCG handbook.

    Rule 18; IH normative Portuguese printed p.23, PDF p.29; English International column cross-check. Individual provision commencement not established: valid_from remains null.

    Checked on
  6. RIEAM / COLREGs — Rule 2: Responsibility ↗

    Instituto Hidrográfico / International Maritime Organization · Rule 3, normative Portuguese printed p.3 (PDF p.9); International English cross-check in USCG handbook.

    Rule 3; IH normative Portuguese printed p.3, PDF p.9; English International column cross-check. Individual provision commencement not established: valid_from remains null.

    Checked on
  7. COLREGs Annex I — Positioning and technical details of lights and shapes ↗

    Instituto Hidrográfico / International Maritime Organization · Annex I; printed p.65, PDF p.71; International cross-check USCG.

    Annex I, IH printed p.65 (PDF p.71); cross-check International annex in USCG handbook. Installation/approval is not taught. International/Inland distinction checked in the USCG PDF: International §3(a) half-length/100m agrees with IH; the quarter-length/50m value belongs to U.S. Inland and is not imported. No dimensional installation prescription is reproduced.

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  8. RIEAM / COLREGs — Rule 29: Pilot vessels ↗

    Instituto Hidrográfico / International Maritime Organization · Rule 29, normative Portuguese printed p.49 (PDF p.55); International English cross-check in USCG handbook. Rule 30, normative Portuguese printed p.49 (PDF p.55); International English cross-check in USCG handbook.

    Rule 29; IH normative Portuguese printed p.49, PDF p.55; English International column cross-check. Individual provision commencement not established: valid_from remains null. Rule 30; IH normative Portuguese printed p.49, PDF p.55; English International column cross-check. Individual provision commencement not established: valid_from remains null.

    Checked on

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