Boat tragedy survivor 'lucky to be alive'

Rescue crews say a man who survived a boating accident north of Port Stephens in which his friend died, is lucky to be alive.

The fishing boat capsized near Broughton Island on Saturday morning and a 35-year-old man washed up onto rocks before being rescued.

The body of his 45-year-old friend was recovered later that day by a police helicopter.

Hunter Rescue Helicopter crewman Glen Ramplin said the survivor did not have a life jacket on.

"He was quite cold and somewhat hypothermia but suffering shock as well," he said.

"He really couldn't say too much to us other than his mate was missing so he was a very lucky individual that he was able to survive."

The Police Marine Area Command is investigating the accident to determine what safety precautions the fishermen had taken.

The Marine Area Command's Mark Hutchings is appealing for boaters to wear their life jackets.

"It's just a tragic incident," he said.

"Our thoughts are with the family and obviously what we want to do, particularly as we're coming out of winter hopefully soon and into the summer season just to remind people, take it easy out there, make sure that you keep your eye open and if you're not sure, put your life jacket on and make sure you let people know where you're going."

Commander Hutchings said they are now preparing a report for the coroner.

"I was extremely happy with the response and also the coordination and cooperation between government agencies and volunteers in New South Wales in the marine environment is excellent and we all work together as a team, we exercise as a team so that when incidents like this happen in real time, we do the best possible response that we can," he said.

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