At night, what lights does a vessel engaged in fishing, other than trawling, show?

• A. A green over red light
• B. A red light over a white light
• C. A white over red light
• D. A yellow over blue light

Answer: (B)

The main idea is how fishing vessels signal their activity at night. When a vessel is fishing, but not trawling, it must show a vertical pair of lights: a red light above a white light. This red-over-white arrangement communicates to other vessels that the gear is in the water and special caution is needed, while standard navigation lights remain in use for basic visibility and collision avoidance.

So, the red light on top and the white light below is the recognized signal for a vessel engaged in fishing (other than trawling). The other color combinations do not convey this fishing activity according to the COLREGS.