Page 98 - Collision Avoidance Rules Guide

conditions or some emergency, which make it necessary to enter an
inshore zone to avoid immediate danger.
In 1989 the sixteenth Assembly of IMO approved an amendment to
Rule 10(d) to clarify the circumstances in which inshore traffic zones
may be used.

Separation zones
In many traffic separation schemes separation zones have been estab-
lished between the lanes to separate traffic proceeding in opposite
directions. A separation zone can also be established between a traffic
lane and an inshore zone. These zones may only be used by vessels
crossing the area covered by the separation scheme, by vessels join-
ing or leaving a lane, by vessels engaged in fishing and by vessels
obliged to enter in cases of emergency to avoid immediate danger.
The first sentence of paragraph (e) was amended in 1981 to incor-
porate vessels joining or leaving a lane.
A vessel crossing a separation zone which is also crossing the traffic
lanes should cross as nearly as practicable at right angles to the gen-
eral direction of traffic flow. However, a vessel crossing a zone in the
process of joining or leaving a lane from either side must comply
with paragraph (b)(iii).

I TRAFFIC LANE

/-----+
INSHORE ZONE

The right of a vessel to engage in fishing within a traffic separation
zone is implicitly established by paragraph (e). As there is no general
direction of flow within a zone vessels engaged in fishing may move
in any direction but they should take account of the general principles
of traffic separation schemes and refrain from proceeding in the

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