WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress is expected to give Cape Cod fishermen, ferry operators and other boaters a helping hand with a new weather buoy in Nantucket Sound to improve forecasting when conditions take a turn for the worse.

The January deaths of four fishermen in the sinking of the Lady of Grace, a New Bedford, Mass.-based dragger, during an icy storm in the sound have lent urgency to the push by Massachusetts lawmakers for the buoy.

Forecasters say the buoy could provide critical data about sea and weather conditions that they currently lack.

Deb Shrader, a commercial fishing advocate whose husband is a scallop boat captain, said a new buoy could help save lives. She has assisted family members of those lost on the Lady of Grace.

“Each time my husband leaves me, I never know if he’s gonna come home,” she said. “Anything that makes it more possible for (fishermen) to get home safely, I’m behind.”

Rep. William Delahunt, who represents Cape Cod, secured $250,000 for the new buoy in an appropriations bill passed by the House this summer. Massachusetts lawmakers are hopeful the Senate will follow suit this fall. A measure for the new buoy has already been approved by a Senate panel.

“Currently, we don’t have the capacity to adequately monitor the weather on Nantucket Sound, and a new buoy will make sure we’re doing all we can to keep our fishermen, residents and tourists safe,” Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said in a statement.

Shrader, executive director of Shore Support, Inc., a New Bedford group that advocates for fishermen and their families, said one of the gravest dangers fishermen face is icing from freezing spray.

Boats can become coated with ice and top heavy in wintry weather, making it easier for them to capsize.

More timely and accurate information from the new buoy could help boats avoid icing perils, Shrader said.

There are two weather buoys in the ocean beyond Nantucket. The closest is 30 nautical miles east of the island. Conditions can be vastly different in the more shallow waters of Nantucket Sound, which is ringed by the Cape on the north, Martha’s Vineyard to the west and Nantucket to the southeast.

“Right now there are no observations in Nantucket Sound,” said Glenn Field, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass.

To help fill the gap, forecasters rely on ferry operators who travel to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard for information on conditions. When bad weather halts ferry service, there are no reports.

Given the sound’s popularity with boaters, fishermen and crowded passenger ferries to the islands, such a makeshift system seems outdated, said Delahunt, D-Mass.

“There ought to be these weather buoys all over the coast,” he said. “It’s a lifeline.”

Wayne Lamson, general manager of the Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, recalled how a truck carrying propane tipped over aboard a ferry in rough seas a few years ago, creating a dangerous situation.

If the ferry captain had a better idea of sea and weather conditions, Lamson said, the problem might have been avoided.

“Perhaps he would have taken a different route or perhaps he would not have gone at all,” said Lamson.

The Steamship Authority, which ferries about 1.3 million passengers to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard each year, has been pushing for a new buoy for several years, said Lamson.

Recent technological advances have made the buoys a more attractive buy for the government, said Delahunt.

Beyond safety concerns, better forecasts could help avoid passenger delays and improve ferry service, he said.

AP-ES-09-02-07 1303EDT