Instead of wringing his hands while standing in the rain (must have been a big deal for island-boy) the fishing boat captains could have been immediately been redirected to deploying wicks, booms,ferrying cleanup crews etc.
Remember the evacuation at Dunkirk?
The people perish because of a lack of vision.
In an alternate universe, Barack Churchill would have sat in Downing Street blaming Neville Chamberlain while making plans for a fundraiser. When asked why no boats were sent to evacuate the troops at Dunkirk, Barack Churchill blamed Chamberlain for not building them and scoffed at the idea that private citizens could use their own boats in the evacuation.