Fishing Vessel Cook

Primary qualification

• Spain: Fishing Deckhand certificate — Marinero Pescador (RD 36/2014, professional titles of the fishing sector) as the sign-on base on fishing vessels, cleared by the relevant Harbour Master.
• Professional culinary training (vocational cookery diploma, professional certificate or proven collective-catering experience); Spain has no specific fishing-cook maritime title (as a guide — verify flag and owner requirements).
• Labour framework: ILO Work in Fishing Convention C188, transposed in the EU by Directive (EU) 2017/159, which requires sufficient free food and potable water for fishers (verify the ratification status applicable to the flag).

Basic STCW

• Basic Safety Training certificate (Spanish Order FOM/2296/2002) required to sign on Spanish fishing vessels.
• Specific Initial Health Training (Order PRE/646/2004) and a valid ISM pre-embarkation medical examination.

Specific courses

• Food hygiene and safety under Regulation (EC) 852/2004 (the training behind the old food-handler card is now the employer’s/owner’s duty).
• Ship’s cook courses from the Spanish Social Marine Institute (ISM) or approved equivalents, focused on shipboard cooking and stores management (as a guide).
• Allergen management (Regulation (EU) 1169/2011) and special diets within multicultural crews.
• Ship’s cook certificate under MLC 2006 (Regulation 3.2) for a move to merchant ships — not applicable in fishing, but it opens that door (as a guide).

Indicative experience

As a guide: 1-2 trips as galley boy/assistant or prior collective-catering experience before running the galley alone; large freezer vessels (30-40 crew, 2-3 month campaigns) ask for 2-3 years of shipboard cooking. The real test is the full trip: provisioning with no port call and cooking in heavy weather.

Observations

Typical route: galley boy → Fishing Vessel Cook → merchant ship’s cook (with the MLC 2006 Regulation 3.2 certificate) → Chief Cook (see profile) on ships with a large catering department; within fishing, the natural progression is to larger vessels or fleet provisioning management. Professional judgement: on a fishing vessel the cook is a covert safety position — food poisoning or an unsecured galley in a storm disables the vessel as fast as a breakdown. The crew list may require doubling on deck: best agreed in the contract and reflected in the clearance documents (as a guide).

Typical watches

• Breakfast, lunch, dinner and extra night meals for the watches; during fishing operations the schedule bends to the catch

Key responsibilities

• Plan and cook meals for a 10-40 person crew on high-calorie diets (cold + sustained physical effort).
• Manage provisions and potable water for campaigns of weeks or months away from port: stock, rotation, freezing and wastage control.
• Apply food hygiene in a minimal galley in bad weather: cold chain, cleaning and food-poisoning prevention (an outbreak disables the crew).
• Secure the galley for heavy weather: lashing pots, oils and knives; the galley is one of the most accident-prone spaces on a fishing vessel.
• Take on auxiliary deck or factory tasks when the vessel’s crew list requires it (usual on small fishing vessels).

Operational scope

• Ship’s galley, provisions store and dry stores
• Provision refrigerated and freezer rooms
• Crew mess