What you need to perform it
Primary qualification
- It is not a qualification but an internal promotion earned by proven trade skill. Usual basis in Spain: the Marinero Pescador certificate (RD 36/2014, contents per Order PRE/646/2004) and years on deck.
- Spanish fishing-ladder qualifications (RD 36/2014) as a progression route: Patrón Local de Pesca, Patrón Costero Polivalente and above — not required for the position, but frequent among veteran bosuns.
- Labour and safety framework: RD 1216/1997 (safety and health on board fishing vessels) and ILO C188/Directive (EU) 2017/159 on work in fishing (scope by flag — verify).
Basic STCW
- Valid Basic Safety Training; the international framework for fishing is STCW-F 1995, not the merchant STCW (application by flag and length — verify).
- Valid ISM pre-embarkation seafarer medical.
Specific courses
- Specialisation in the vessel's gear: trawl, purse seine, longline or gillnet — each gear is a different trade.
- Safety with winches, wires under tension and snap-back zones.
- Net making and mending (the net mender's trade).
- First aid and man overboard in cold water; sea survival.
- Deck cranes and lifting appliances (company training, as a guide).
Indicative experience
As a guide: 5-10 years on deck in the same gear before taking the position; in distant-water fleets, full campaigns as the skipper's trusted hand are usually expected first. Experience in the specific gear can be neither improvised nor converted.
Observations
Real experience in the gear and fleet type weighs as much as any paper: a trawl bosun is not automatically fit for a purse seiner. Dataset progression: fishing deckhand → bosun → (with RD 36/2014 qualifications) fishing mate and fishing captain. On freezer vessels he works alongside the refrigeration engineer and the deck oiler; his constant interlocutor is the bridge during the manoeuvre. Fishing sits outside MLC 2006: its convention is C188, and deck safety under the Spanish flag is governed by RD 1216/1997.
What this role does
It is one of the hardest and most dangerous jobs afloat: it combines years of trade skill, gear sense and real authority over the deck during high-energy manoeuvres, with wires working under tonnes of tension and open sea on both sides. The skipper commands the vessel, but during the haul the deck belongs to the bosun: the crew's safety and the gear's performance hang on his eye and his voice. Fishing's accident rate — the highest of all work at sea — is fought above all here.
Typical watches
- Deck watches during shooting, hauling and manoeuvring; on a trip, the pace is set by the haul, not the clock
Key responsibilities
- Direct the physical gear operation: shooting and hauling nets, trawl doors and rigging depending on the fishery.
- Operate and watch winches, haulers, wires and strops under tension, controlling loads and snap-back zones.
- Organise net mending and gear preparation for the next haul, on deck or in port.
- Assign the ratings' work on deck and in moving the catch to the fish handling area.
- Enforce safety discipline in the most dangerous area of the vessel: PPE, working lifejackets, communication with the bridge.
Operational scope
- Fishing deck and stern ramp or shooting/hauling sides
- Fishing gear, winches, haulers and deck machinery
- Net stores and gear spares
Profile reviewed by HydroAbyss (2026). Cited rules and timeframes are indicative: the final requirement is set by the flag State, the Administration and each company.