STCW-F Convention for fishing vessel personnel
International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel
- IMO
- In force
- Checked 6 October 2026
- In force from
- 1 Jan 20261
Contents6
1 What it covers
STCW-F sets the requirements for training and certification of fishing vessel personnel: skippers, officers and engineer officers, and for all personnel basic safety training and medical fitness.1
It is a system separate from the STCW Convention for merchant ships. Documents of the two systems do not replace each other automatically, except where the regulations say so: for example, a valid STCW medical certificate is also accepted on a fishing vessel.3
2 How it is built
- ConventionConvention and AnnexRegulations: who receives which certificate, medical fitness, basic training
- CodeSTCW-F CodeStandards of competence: tables of knowledge and skills for each certificate and training
3 Regulations and documents
Documents of the reference by chapter of the STCW-F Annex.
- IChapter I: general provisions and medical fitnessMedical Fitness Certificate for Fishing Vessel Personneland 5 brief entries in the reference
- IIChapter II: certificates of skippers, officers and engineer officersCertificate of Competency – Fishing Vessel Chief Engineer Officer, 3,000 kW or moreCertificate of Competency – Fishing Vessel Chief Engineer Officer, 750–3,000 kWCertificate of Competency – Fishing Vessel Engineering Watch Officer / Designated Duty Engineer, 750 kW or moreCertificate of Competency – Fishing Vessel Navigational Watch Officer, 24 m or more, Unlimited WatersCertificate of Competency – Fishing Vessel Skipper, 24 m or more, Limited WatersCertificate of Competency – Fishing Vessel Skipper, 24 m or more, Unlimited Watersand 5 brief entries in the reference
- IIIChapter III: basic safety trainingBasic Safety Training for Fishing Vessel Personneland 4 brief entries in the reference
4 How to read the codes
- STCW-F II/1 – the STCW-F regulation on the fishing vessel skipper certificate, not the STCW regulation on a merchant navigational watch officer
- STCW-F III/1 – basic safety training for fishing vessel personnel
STCW-F codes look like STCW codes but belong to a different convention, which is why the reference prefixes them with STCW-F.
5 Amendments
The current text of the Convention and the new STCW-F Code were adopted by resolutions of the Maritime Safety Committee.
6 Where to read the text
IMO publishes the resolutions openly. The IMO website terms do not permit republication or translation, so this page gives our own explanation.4
- Resolution MSC.561(108) (IMO, PDF)
- Resolution MSC.562(108) (IMO, PDF)