A central body to organize what events happen on what lakes and on what days would do everyone a world of good. It may have prevented this, it may not. Aside from the obvious safety factor that would be prevalent with this sort of organization, wouldn't the entire lake experience be improved for those in the events and those not? Would the fishing experience not been greatly improved?
Aside from this I believe regulations are LONG over due. I'm not for over regulating either, but the situation on the water is vastly changed from when the loose operating guidelines were established way back when. You need a permit to operate a car, you need one to operate a plane, you should need one to operate a gas powered boat. There should be a yearly renewal fee and that fee should go toward putting more officers on the lake. The operating regulations, including SPEED LIMITS, and over all operation need to be over hauled and strictly enforced. The fines should also go to adding more officers to the water. These regulations should be enforced for fishermen and pleasure boaters alike.
Limiting the number of tournaments may not have prevented this. But I am pretty darned sure that had there been a speed limit and over all operating rules followed, this could have easily been avoided.
