The Marine Casualty Investigation Board has called for mandatory regulations to require small open fishing boats to carry distress flares.
Its report into the death of a fisherman off Castletownbere, Co Cork, also suggests that those using such craft should carry hand-held VHF radios.
The two men involved, William Power and Jer O'Driscoll from Castletownbere, had both done basic survival training,
But Mr O'Driscoll drowned when the 17ft boat they were using for drift-netting capsized in the early hours of 18 September 2006.
They did not have a VHF marine radio or distress flares on the boat, according to the MCIB, and it was not until one of them was washed ashore that the alarm was raised.
The Board wants the carrying of flares made mandatory on such boats and says fishermen using them should be encouraged to carry at least hand-held VHF radios.
