The 77-year-old fish shop owner was famous in the coastal community of Forster-Tuncurry for his fish sausages and loved nothing better than wetting a line either in recreation or to land a catch for the market.

Friends were at a loss yesterday to understand how the experienced man of the sea had come to drown in a boating accident only 50 metres off his local Tuncurry Beach.

Mr Parker was thrown from his 4.3-metre runabout just after 7am when it was upended in 2.5-metre waves.

He had registered the new boat only in December.

Police said Mr Parker cried out but onlookers on the sand could only watch as he was taken under the surf.

Police said Mr Parker did not appear to have been wearing a lifejacket and had sustained a gash that suggested he might have hit his head.

Wallis Lake Fishermen's Co-op chairman Noel Gogerly was Mr Parker's close friend.

"Everyone involved in fishing here is absolutely devastated," he said yesterday.

"He had a lot to do with all the local fishing families. We're a pretty tight-knit group of fishermen and it's hit us pretty hard."

Mr Parker was taken by the waves as he returned from an expedition about a kilometre offshore.

He had launched from a boat ramp at Tuncurry's Point Road about 6am, and Mr Gogerly said he "didn't want to speculate" on what might have gone wrong for the fisherman of 30 years.

"I'm not quite sure whether he'd gone for a recreational morning run or if he'd gone to get some fish for the market," he said.

"He had so much experience at sea."

Mr Gogerly said his friend, who had moved to the twin towns in the 1970s, had been given a life vest for his birthday two weeks ago.

The fish shop jointly run by Mr Parker's family was shut yesterday, and Mr Gogerly said the area had lost a much-loved personality.

"He was a damn hard worker," Mr Gogerly said.

"I don't think I'm going to feel the full impact until I catch up with his son."

A mechanical examination will be carried out on Mr Parker's boat, and a report prepared for the coroner.