Mr Crerar also indicated he would recommend to the Government a legislative change to make float-free satellite-linked beacons compulsory on Fiordland fishing boats and require fishermen to wear flotation devices.
He made the comments during a two-day inquest this week in Te Anau attended by relatives, friends and colleagues of four fishermen who drowned in Fiordland last year.
In his preliminary summing up at the end of the inquest yesterday, Mr Crerar said he found K-Cee skipper-owner Bruce Robert Gordon (42), of Te Anau, and deckhand Darren James Allen (37), also known as Fitzgerald, of Wairio, died in the Tasman Sea off Rocky Point on Secretary Island, Fiordland, on April 30 last year.
The cause of their deaths was drowning after the fishing boat K-Cee was overwhelmed in heavy seas and sank.
Mr Crerar said he found Governor skipper Kevin John Cosgrove (60), of Dobson, near Greymouth, and deckhand Nirvana Drew Reynolds (16), of Blackball, died in the Tasman Sea near Yates Point, north of the entrance to Milford Sound, on September 15 last year.
The cause of their deaths was also drowning when Governor capsized during attempts to recover a snagged trawl net. Phillip O'Sullivan, skipper of the fishing boat Unleashed, said in his opinion Governor should not have been operating as it was, at 11.30am, given the 3m-4m swells from the northwest and the strongest tide he had ever seen, in reply to questions from maritime consultant Keith Ingram, of Auckland.
Mr O'Sullivan found diesel off Yates Point and fishing boats started to search south due to the heading of the tide at 6pm to 6.30pm.
Debris was found south of Transit Beach and the empty life raft was found further south.
Fishermen continued searching until 10pm and returned to Milford Sound. Their search resumed the next morning.
Governor was found by using sonar north of Yates Point off Professor Creek, about 1.6km offshore in 50m of water.
Mr Crerar heard about patchy communications in Fiordland and the different radio channels used by different crews.
He said an inexperienced crewman might not have known to change channel when issuing a distress call.
However, Daniel Mullin, stepfather of Mr Reynolds for 13 years, said Governor was not the first boat the teenager crewed and he was a quick learner.
Mr Ingram said Governor crewmen did not have a chance to cut the wire or put on life jackets, which were stowed in the cabin, before being overwhelmed.
Because the boat was held fast, tonnes of water would have flooded the deck as waves washed over the boat. It would have sunk in minutes.
''The jackets were not conducive to working in,'' he said.
The life raft deployed automatically, but the onboard manual emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was not activated.
An automatic float-free EPIRB would have drifted at the same rate as swimmers in the water, he said.
Fishsafe guidelines recommended an inexperienced crewman was professionally inducted and mentored by an experienced crewman, but Mr Ingram said he had not seen or heard any evidence Mr Reynolds was given those opportunities.
Mr Crerar said in his preliminary summary basic safety items were available, ''survival at sea is significantly advanced'' and he asked fishermen to wear a personal flotation device.
The availability of float-free EPIRBS must be advertised and circulated, he said.
Fishermen, like farmers, could be ''too staunch'' and choose not to call for help when they should, he said.
