"that fees would discourage registration of new 406 models"
1. Possibly would? BUT Epirb registrations are being done the wrong way around, the registration process should be done at the point of sale so as to ensure ALL beacons are registered.
2. This would save an awfull amount of $$ with false activations
3. BTW that's my opinion and would have been by far the best option and that is a fact.