The convention adopted by an overwhelming majority at the ILO's conference covers improved safety and health care at sea, sufficient rest, proper social protection and living conditions on board vessels.

"Fishing is a unique way of life," said Nigel Campbell, a South African maritime safety officer who headed negotiations to draw up the regulations.

"This convention reflects not only this uniqueness but the demands of globalisation in an ever expanding sector that exposes men and women to considerable hardships and danger," he added.

The agreement also allows inspections of large fishing vessels on extended voyages in foreign ports to ensure that their crew do not work under hazardous or unhealthy conditions.

The ILO said the inspection measure would help remove unfit vessels from the seas.

A recent ILO report underlined that fishing was well documented as one of the most hazardous occupations around, combining the inherent dangers of work on the high seas, the industrial hazards of catching and processing fish, and the sustained fatigue that comes with the unpredictability of finding adequate catches.

It also highlighted the growing trend for fishing industry to both find and sell their fish to buyers in ever more distant corners of the world, and the need for fishers to move ever further away from coastlines to secure catches.

About 45 percent of the total global catch is taken by the small-scale fisheries and the remainder by industrial fisheries, according to the ILO. More than 90 percent of those regularly employed work on small vessels.

Some 83 percent of people involved in the industry come from Asia and nearly 10 percent from Africa, according to the UN food and agriculture organisation for 2000.

The convention will come into effect when it is ratified by 10 of the ILO's 180 members, including eight coastal nations.

Thursday's conference grouped unions, employers and government representatives.