The Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, south of Santa Barbara, when it caught fire before dawn on the final day of a three-day excursion. It sank less than 30 metres (100 feet) from shore. Thirty-four people were killed in the fire.

The enactment of the Small Passenger Vessel Act (SPVA) in 2022 amended US maritime law, affecting the liability of small passenger vessel owners for safety violations that lead to accidents.

The boat's operator, Tornado Marine Fleet, said 15 British passengers had been on board along with 12 crew members and two guides. Twenty-six other people, including 12 Britons, were rescued from the boat, called Hurricane, which was off the coast of Marsa Alam, authorities said.

The liability requirement was included in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Lawmakers had been led to believe that Section 11503 of the NDAA was simply a “fix for the families who lost loved ones” in the tragic Conception Dive Boat fire of 2019, DEMA writes.

But the new law goes far beyond one tragedy—it lines the pockets of trial lawyers and does nothing to make sure dive boats are operating safely. 

In September 2019, off the coast of California, a fire aboard the MV Conception, a 23-meter (75-foot) scuba diving liveaboard, broke out during the night, killing 33 passengers and one crew member. The captain and four crew members barely escaped. After more than a year of speculations and rumors, the NTSB (the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board) published the results of its investigation and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a new policy on a few topics, including the charging of lithium-ion batteries aboard small vessels and liveaboards.

Why does it seem we need a horrendous accident for common sense safety changes to be made? Looking back in history, two tragedies come to mind, which resulted in significant changes to safety protocols. One was the sinking of the Titanic and another, more recently in 2010, the “Station” nightclub fire in the US state of Rhode Island. It took the loss of 100 souls for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to re-write policies, and issue new code provisions in 2006 for fire sprinklers and crowd management in nightclub-type venues.