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NavalVisual distress signals on board
Before the vessel leaves port, you check that it carries the visual distress signals federal rules require for the waters it will fish: parachute flares, hand flares and smoke signals offshore, a distress light and a distress flag or flares close to the coast, all in date and ready to use. Using visual distress signals is one of the contingencies every crew drills each month, together with the voice radio distress call.
Free to startScenarios
- Ocean, more than 50 miles from the coastline.
- Ocean, 3 to 50 miles from the coastline, or more than 3 miles out on the Great Lakes.
- Coastal waters, or within 3 miles of the coastline on the Great Lakes.
The steps
- Find out where the vessel will operate, to know which distress signals it must carry.
- More than 50 miles from the coastline: 3 parachute flares, 6 hand flares and 3 smoke signals.
- 3 to 50 miles from the coastline, or more than 3 miles out on the Great Lakes: the same 3 parachute flares, 6 hand flares and 3 smoke signals.
- In coastal waters, or within 3 miles of the coastline on the Great Lakes: for night, one electric distress light or 3 flares; for day, one distress flag, 3 flares or 3 smoke signals.
- Check the expiration dates and replace each dated item on or before its date.
- Before leaving port, see that the signals are in good working order, ready for immediate use and readily accessible.
- In the monthly drill, break out the signals and practice using them along with the voice radio distress call.
To pass
- The right signals on board for the waters, in date, in good order and readily accessible before leaving port.
- If flares are carried in coastal waters, the same 3 flares count for both the day and the night requirement.
- Each signal is an approved type; farther than 50 miles out only the current approval series count (parachute flares 160.136, hand flares 160.121, smoke signals 160.122).
- Every person on board drilled and instructed each month on using visual distress signals, as if it were real.
Official source
U.S. Coast Guard · 46 CFR 28.140, 28.145 and 28.270
46 CFR Part 28: Requirements for Commercial Fishing Industry Vessels (28.265 Emergency instructions, 28.270 Instruction, drills, and safety orientation)
The eCFR publishes 46 CFR Part 28 free: the emergency instructions every commercial fishing vessel posts, its lifesaving equipment and the monthly drills.
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