Entry & progression
Watchkeeper needs basic safety training including security awareness, and PSCRB. It does not need advanced firefighting and it does not need medical first aid. But the GMDSS requirement contains a trap that will not bite you for five years.
What Watchkeeper actually needs
| Course | Watchkeeper Deck <3000 (Y) |
|---|---|
| Basic safety training (incl. security awareness) | Yes |
| PSCRB — survival craft and rescue boats other than fast rescue boats | Yes |
| Advanced firefighting | NO — not at this level |
| Medical first aid (A-VI/4 paras 1–3) | NO — not at this level |
| Medical care on board (A-VI/4 paras 4–6) | NO — not at this level |
| ECDIS | Only if serving on an ECDIS-equipped yacht (MO74 s8(2)) |
Advanced firefighting first appears at Chief Mate. Medical first aid also first appears at Chief Mate. Medical care on board ship is a different course again, and belongs to the two Master grades. Three separate courses, three separate STCW paragraphs. Do not let a training provider sell you the wrong one.
Australia bundles security awareness into basic safety
AMSA calls STCW basic safety the Certificate of Safety Training (CoST), and Australia folds five elements into it, not four: personal survival techniques, fire prevention and fire fighting, elementary first aid, personal safety and social responsibilities — and security awareness training.
WARNING — Only AMSA can issue a CoST AMSA, verbatim: If you completed basic safety training overseas, you cannot use it to obtain an Australian CoST. You must be trained in Australia with an AMSA-approved provider. And: sea service completed before your CoST is issued may not count as qualifying sea service.
So the CoST is the gate to the whole international system, and it is a gate you have to walk through first, in Australia, before the clock on your 36 months starts running cleanly. A season of yacht time accrued before the CoST is time you may not get back.
ECDIS — conditional, not universal
MO74 s8(2) makes ECDIS training a condition of serving on an ECDIS-equipped yacht, not a condition of holding the certificate. In practice, almost every yacht above the size where you will be standing a watch is ECDIS-equipped, and ECDIS becomes mandatory outright at Master <500. Do it anyway.
The GMDSS trap
WARNING — Initial issue accepts a restricted certificate. Revalidation does not. For initial issue of Watchkeeper Deck <3000 GT (Yachts), MO74 Schedule 2 asks for a GMDSS radio operator certificate. Unspecified level.
But MO74 Schedule 4 cl 4.2 requires a GMDSS General Operator's Certificate (GOC) to REVALIDATE — any of the four yacht certificates, including Watchkeeper.
So a candidate holding only a restricted-level GMDSS certificate can satisfy initial issue, work five years on it, and then walk into a wall at revalidation. Get the GOC at the start. It is the same course either way and you will need it eventually. Confirm the current wording with AMSA — this is a live trap and worth a phone call.
The pattern is worth noticing. MO74 is generous at the door and strict at the renewal. Plan for the renewal.