What is the main purpose of the COLREGs?

• A. To prevent collisions at sea by prescribing how vessels should operate relative to each other, including watchkeeping, maneuvering, and signaling.
• B. To enforce speed limits in all seas.
• C. To regulate fishing quotas aboard merchant ships.
• D. To standardize distress signaling equipment across flag states.

Answer: (A)

COLREGs establish the rules that help vessels avoid collisions by governing how ships should operate relative to one another, including keeping a proper lookout, moving with a safe speed, and using clear signals to communicate intentions. They provide the framework for how vessels should maneuver in different situations (meeting, crossing, head-on) and set out who should give way and who should stand on, so that actions are predictable and conflicts are reduced. The emphasis is on preventing collisions through standardized behavior and communication, rather than prescribing speeds everywhere, quotas, or equipment standards.

Other options miss the mark because they describe functions outside the collision-avoidance purpose of COLREGs: universal speed limits are not mandated by COLREGs themselves, fishing quotas are a fisheries-management matter, and standardizing distress signaling equipment falls under SOLAS and related signaling conventions, not the collision-avoidance rules.