Comment from Susan Sack

Regulations that are inexpensive to implement along with voluntary advisory regulations would be welcome to educate the inexperienced and the foolish. Many safety concious small independant fishermen will be forced off the water if expensive mandated regulations are implemented. Large boat operators are under pressure to make money to cover their large expenses forcing captains to make bad decisions at the cost of their crews and this will not change even with more regulations. Small day boats don't have large expenses therefore have more fexibility in scheduling safe short days at sea. My husband has over 50 years of experience on the ocean fishing alone in very small boats. He fishes in good weather using a buddy system with a fellow fisherman. He does not go out without his buddy sialing beside him or risk anybody elses life but his own and this system has proved time and time again to be much safer than the larger boats in our area who go out alone and risk bad weather (being big gives them a false sense of security) and end up sinking before they can even issue a mayday. Free education is needed to let inexperienced captains know the risks involved when gong beyond reasonable safety limits.