South Africa has become the 25th State to sign up to the IMO treaty on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F). The Convention sets the certification and minimum training requirements for crews of seagoing fishing vessels of 24 metres in length and above.
The STCW-F 1995 entered into force on 29 September 2012, as the first to establish basic requirements on training, certification and watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel on an international level.
Dr. Bonginkosi Emmanuel Nzimande, Minister of Transport of South Africa, met IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim at IMO Headquarters, London, to deposit the instrument of accession, on 2 July.
South Africa ratified the Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety in 2016. The Cape Town Agreement was adopted at an international conference in South Africa in 2012, to promote safety ‘in one of the most dangerous professions in the world’.
The treaty will enter into force 12 months after at least 22 States, with an aggregate 3,600 fishing vessels of 24 m in length and over operating on the high seas have expressed their consent to be bound by it.
To date, eight countries have ratified the Cape Town Agreement: France, Congo, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway and South Africa.
