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It says fisherman. So they were spear fishing?
Since many/most vhf stations (all channels not just 16/9) are now being digitally recorded 24/7,,it's becoming s.o.p. to stay off the radio during events and move to cells. In the US east coast it's talked about all the time in gatherings. For dive boats now days the radio is used for courtesy calls, conditions reports, and smack talking humor. USGS records every station, every voice, every channel and then because of it's array of antennas it can triangulate a fairly accurate transmit position based on the simultaneous signal strength measured by multiple towers and compared instantly. When an event happens, it's now handled over voice cell usually and that's why locals knowledge is everything....in fact the news that the person had been found was broadcast by text messages among sailors.....