I'd like to address this a bit.
The reason there are less accidents is because of the wider boats with the stern extensions. Going back seven or eight years ago, you'd have a 44' 11" that was 18 feet wide. A good portion of the fleet now is fishing offshore. It's been gradually moving that way. From 10% to 50% are fishing offshore--up to 50 miles offshore. When you have to travel that far, it's very important that you can carry your traps in one load. It's a long ride out there, especially when, in most cases, it's going to be an uncomfortable ride. You don't get a chance to pick the perfect day.
I addressed the 50-foot length and the width as being a good thing, because we don't have these fishermen out every night now. After they've pounded around for 20 hours, they have to steam in for five hours, get in at 1 o'clock in the morning, take the bait out, take the lobsters out, put the bait and the new crates back aboard, and go back out. So now you have three or four really tired individuals steaming back and forth in the night, falling half asleep, trying to stay awake.
The 50-foot boat is very simple. It allows them to take two tiers off the top. We know that in terms of stability, the higher you go, the worse it is. This allows them to take two tiers off the top of the boat and put half of the load in the 5-foot extension that's on the stern, down where it's supposed to be. It makes a big difference to stability, whatever you carry, when you can take the top third off.
It's just been a matter of evolution. It's safer. It's way more livable. Plus we don't have to worry about whether these guys are going to come home. We've never lost...and our guys fish in some hard, hard weather. We fish in the worst times of the year. We don't lose anybody to boats flipping over.
Having said that, DFO has to knock off thinking that boats are a ways and means of doing conservation. After 25 years, I would hope you people could address that and make these people understand: do the job you get paid to do, get your noses out of boats and boat building, and let the fishermen decide what they need for boats to safely go and do the job.