Government legislation ministry says fishing boat captain experience need not be sea-officer service

The government legislation ministry said Wednesday that the two-year service requirement for fishing boat captains does not apply only to service as licensed ship officers, broadening who can qualify to run a fishing boat business.

The Ministry of Government Legislation issued the interpretation in reply to a query from Buan County in North Jeolla Province, which asked whether the experience and port-call records required under the enforcement decree of the Fishing Management and Promotion Act are limited to ship officers as defined by the Ship Officers Act.

Under the decree, a fishing boat captain must hold a small-vessel operator license or a higher marine engineer license and have at least two years of service experience or at least 120 days of ship entry and departure records.

The ministry said the Ship Officers Act defines service experience as time spent serving aboard a vessel, without limiting it to licensed officers or specific duties, even though the same law separately defines a ship officer as a person performing captain, navigation or engineering duties. The decree requires both a license and experience so that operators can check sailing qualifications and sea service separately, and contains no clause restricting the experience to time logged after obtaining the license.

The ministry also pointed to the Ship Officers Act's own enforcement rules, which define service experience for marine engineer licenses to include work aboard a vessel by people who are not ship officers, excluding only assistance with engine-room duties and cooking.

Restricting the requirement without an explicit legal basis could also infringe on the freedom to run a fishing boat business, the ministry said, citing the Framework Act on Administrative Regulations.

"With the revision of the subordinate legislation under the Fishing Management and Promotion Act, we expect people to enjoy fishing more safely," said Choi Yong-seok, the marine fisheries ministry's fisheries resource policy officer.