Seems to me the Ely outfitters could get together and bring thier case to thier congressmen, and to the C in C (Obama) - not a good economic time to be putting more people (even though its just summer time employment) out of work.  If its a rule, it can be modified easily enough to either give the small boat operators a discounted rate, or an exemption.

On the other hand, it probably only affects maybe a dozen summer jobs? which may only partly involve tow sersive, so maybe not enough jobs involved to be a big deal to the gov't.

I've never used a tow service, and never would, so not a big deal to me either way.