---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 7311a"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "7311a"
heading: "Able seamen—fishing industry"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/7311a"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part E — Merchant Seamen Licenses, Certificates, and Documents"
  - "Chapter 73 — Merchant Mariners’ Documents"
---

# §7311a. Able seamen—fishing industry


For service on a [fish processing vessel](/usc/46/2101.md?p=13), an individual may be rated as able [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3)—fishing industry if the individual has at least 6 months’ service on deck on board vessels operating on the oceans or the [navigable waters of the United States](/usc/46/2101.md?p=25) (including the [Great Lakes](/usc/46/9301.md?p=2)).


## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 98–364, title IV, § 402(9)(D), July 17, 1984, 98 Stat. 448.)